What are the most interesting suburbs in the U.S. today, and why?
no_form
Sep 7, 16 2:36 am
Co-housing because it's not a suburb but it is definitely sub-urban.
Detroit burbs- all that farming and self determination to make it great again.
Braddock, Pennsylvania. John fetterman the mayor has tried to some things to turn that post apocalyptic town into something better.
California city - it was abandoned and now taken over by wildlife
Silverlake in Los Angeles for the Neutra houses
Orange, California for the Eichler houses
Houston's fourth ward historical housing for freed slaves.
Wood Guy
Sep 7, 16 8:54 am
There are no interesting suburbs. Urban is the new sub-urban. Rural is also cool again.
won and done williams
Sep 7, 16 12:16 pm
Suburbs are all lame; not a good one anywhere. Small towns are where it's at.
Donna Sink
Sep 7, 16 1:03 pm
Carmel, Indiana has spent truckloads of money making itself both more urban, with an art-focused walkable downtown, and more suburban, with the highest number of roundabouts of any city in the US: gotta keep those cars flowing!
In fact, Carmel just won the very prestigious "International Roundabout of the Year" award (it's a thing) from the UK Roundabout Appreciation society (also a thing) this year. I'm somewhat surprised that Archinect/Archinect UK didn't do a joint announcement, frankly? ;-)
What makes all this work by Carmel especially interesting is the spending spree has been somewhat disastrous, yet it keeps going. Every time I drive to Carmel I feel like it's time for a significant human pandemic, but the people there appear to love it.
chigurh
Sep 7, 16 1:12 pm
sounds like the truman show set
JLC-1
Sep 7, 16 1:33 pm
aspen
malibu
pontevedra
greenwich
Brud-G
Sep 7, 16 1:36 pm
Celebration outside of Orlando Florida.
Josh Mings
Sep 7, 16 1:36 pm
I mean, Oak Park is kind of OK. Some Wright dude designed a bunch of houses there, but an ex also lives there. So, it's a wash.
the houses are interesting and each one unique. careful planning for the automobile while preserving a bucolic country image with the roads depressed so cars are not as visible from the parks and all.
Over and OUT
Peter N
JLC-1
Sep 7, 16 5:11 pm
^I'm sorry Amelia, but Phoenix is an aberration that shouldn't exist, same as Las Vegas.
tduds
Sep 7, 16 5:17 pm
Y'all are confusing 'interesting' and 'good'.
Salton City is an interesting suburb.
Donna Sink
Sep 7, 16 5:32 pm
^ What tduds said.
I'm interested in Carmel as a suburb trying to get serious about itself while also economically benefitting a bunch of investors. It's a significant public-private partnership situation.
Outside of Phoenix, and more historically, Sun City is interesting in the same way: it's an old folks' home, in a suburban setting. I believe Sun City is where the llamas ran free a year ago.
tduds
Sep 7, 16 9:20 pm
A "suburb" near Portland recently decided to dissolve itself. The politics surrounding its incorporation, the urban growth boundary, and eventual disincorporation (which is still to be decided by a court challenge if I remember correctly), are super interesting.
I love novels like "The Ice Storm" (New Canaan, CT) or "Middlesex" (Grosse Pointe, MI), but the suburbs where they are set are probably the last places in the world I would actually want to live. I think an "interesting" suburb exists largely in your imagination.
tduds
Sep 8, 16 12:57 pm
won: I think that invites further distinction between places that are "interesting" to look at / write about (which is what I imagine prompted this thread) and places that are "interesting" to inhabit (a.k.a. "good").
I and others who have posted examples seem to be taking the former interpretation, while those dismissing the question out-of-hand are stuck on the latter.
Amelia Taylor-Hochberg
Sep 8, 16 5:05 pm
I deliberately chose to not clarify my request any more than with "interesting", because it's a subjective qualifier to each individual, making it impossible to rank everyone's suggestions in any clear way. I wanted to just see which places come up in discussion, and get people's sandals flapping. Yes, to use in later writing. I'm trying to refrain from debating what even counts as a suburb (Silverlake???)
gwharton
Sep 8, 16 6:34 pm
Riverside, Illinois (the suburb where I spent my childhood) is fairly interesting: designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. It's a good example of the early promise of the suburban typology before it became so completely commoditized in the post-war era.
awaiting_deletion
Sep 8, 16 8:08 pm
not sure these are Suburbs, as I think you have to be a suburb to an urban area, but all those little place along Florida's Highway 30A
Volunteer
Sep 8, 16 8:41 pm
Those "new urban" places along 30A, Seaside, Aly's Beach, Rosemary Beach, just outside of Destin, (and Destin itself) are suburbs of Fort Walton Beach just to the west. Fort Walton is a town of about 30,000 people built largely after WWII to accommodate Eglin AFB personnel. As the prices of places like Seaside have gone completely out of sight, a lot of the older housing stock (concrete block ranch homes) in Fort Walton is being remodeled and upgraded. Retirees are finding that if you live there year round you don't really have to have a place on the water if you have quick access to it. You can buy a nice house in FWB for $200,000 or less compared to $800,000 and up for one of the "new urban places". I lived down there for four years some time ago and it really was a wonderful experience. Absolutely the best beaches I have ever seen anywhere with the sand that looks like snow or sugar.
What are the most interesting suburbs in the U.S. today, and why?
Co-housing because it's not a suburb but it is definitely sub-urban.
Detroit burbs- all that farming and self determination to make it great again.
Braddock, Pennsylvania. John fetterman the mayor has tried to some things to turn that post apocalyptic town into something better.
California city - it was abandoned and now taken over by wildlife
Silverlake in Los Angeles for the Neutra houses
Orange, California for the Eichler houses
Houston's fourth ward historical housing for freed slaves.
There are no interesting suburbs. Urban is the new sub-urban. Rural is also cool again.
Suburbs are all lame; not a good one anywhere. Small towns are where it's at.
Carmel, Indiana has spent truckloads of money making itself both more urban, with an art-focused walkable downtown, and more suburban, with the highest number of roundabouts of any city in the US: gotta keep those cars flowing!
In fact, Carmel just won the very prestigious "International Roundabout of the Year" award (it's a thing) from the UK Roundabout Appreciation society (also a thing) this year. I'm somewhat surprised that Archinect/Archinect UK didn't do a joint announcement, frankly? ;-)
What makes all this work by Carmel especially interesting is the spending spree has been somewhat disastrous, yet it keeps going. Every time I drive to Carmel I feel like it's time for a significant human pandemic, but the people there appear to love it.
sounds like the truman show set
aspen
malibu
pontevedra
greenwich
Celebration outside of Orlando Florida.
I mean, Oak Park is kind of OK. Some Wright dude designed a bunch of houses there, but an ex also lives there. So, it's a wash.
I'm fascinated by Maryvale, a suburb of Phoenix, for possibly being run by a gang of stray chihuahuas: http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/gangs-of-chihuahuas-are-not-running-maryvale-6645569
Riverside in Illinois near Chicago was designed by Olmsted
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside,_Illinois
the houses are interesting and each one unique. careful planning for the automobile while preserving a bucolic country image with the roads depressed so cars are not as visible from the parks and all.
Over and OUT
Peter N
^I'm sorry Amelia, but Phoenix is an aberration that shouldn't exist, same as Las Vegas.
Y'all are confusing 'interesting' and 'good'.
Salton City is an interesting suburb.
^ What tduds said.
I'm interested in Carmel as a suburb trying to get serious about itself while also economically benefitting a bunch of investors. It's a significant public-private partnership situation.
Outside of Phoenix, and more historically, Sun City is interesting in the same way: it's an old folks' home, in a suburban setting. I believe Sun City is where the llamas ran free a year ago.
A "suburb" near Portland recently decided to dissolve itself. The politics surrounding its incorporation, the urban growth boundary, and eventual disincorporation (which is still to be decided by a court challenge if I remember correctly), are super interesting.
http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/307251-185089-damascus-voters-say-yes-to-disincorporation
https://ballotpedia.org/Damascus,_Oregon,_Disincorporation_of_the_City_of_Damascus_Act_(2016)
What does "interesting" mean?
I love novels like "The Ice Storm" (New Canaan, CT) or "Middlesex" (Grosse Pointe, MI), but the suburbs where they are set are probably the last places in the world I would actually want to live. I think an "interesting" suburb exists largely in your imagination.
won: I think that invites further distinction between places that are "interesting" to look at / write about (which is what I imagine prompted this thread) and places that are "interesting" to inhabit (a.k.a. "good").
I and others who have posted examples seem to be taking the former interpretation, while those dismissing the question out-of-hand are stuck on the latter.
I deliberately chose to not clarify my request any more than with "interesting", because it's a subjective qualifier to each individual, making it impossible to rank everyone's suggestions in any clear way. I wanted to just see which places come up in discussion, and get people's sandals flapping. Yes, to use in later writing. I'm trying to refrain from debating what even counts as a suburb (Silverlake???)
Riverside, Illinois (the suburb where I spent my childhood) is fairly interesting: designed by Frederick Law Olmstead. It's a good example of the early promise of the suburban typology before it became so completely commoditized in the post-war era.
not sure these are Suburbs, as I think you have to be a suburb to an urban area, but all those little place along Florida's Highway 30A
Those "new urban" places along 30A, Seaside, Aly's Beach, Rosemary Beach, just outside of Destin, (and Destin itself) are suburbs of Fort Walton Beach just to the west. Fort Walton is a town of about 30,000 people built largely after WWII to accommodate Eglin AFB personnel. As the prices of places like Seaside have gone completely out of sight, a lot of the older housing stock (concrete block ranch homes) in Fort Walton is being remodeled and upgraded. Retirees are finding that if you live there year round you don't really have to have a place on the water if you have quick access to it. You can buy a nice house in FWB for $200,000 or less compared to $800,000 and up for one of the "new urban places". I lived down there for four years some time ago and it really was a wonderful experience. Absolutely the best beaches I have ever seen anywhere with the sand that looks like snow or sugar.