Rapid Growth of Suburbs Change the Face of American Neighborhoods

KPBS | By KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published September 20, 2007 at 10:14 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

Some of the fastest growing cities in America are "boomburbs." A "boomburb" is a large incorporated community of more than 100,000 residents that is not the biggest city in its region. We speak to the

Rapid Growth of Suburbs Change the Face of American Neighborhoods

Originally aired June 25, 2007.

Tom Fudge : What do Naperville, Illinois and Plano, Texas have in common with Chula Vista? They are all what have been called “boomburbs.” That means they aren't the core cities of their region. But they do have more than 100,000 people and they've had double-digit population growth since the 1970 census.

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These, in other words, are the urban areas that people are really moving to today. Old cities like Minneapolis and Pittsburgh, not to mention New Orleans, are losing population. So why have so few Americans heard of Plano, Texas or Mesa, Arizona, which is another “boomburb?”

Guest

Robert Lang, co-author of Boomburbs: The Rise of America's Accidental Cities . He is also director of the Metropolitan Institute, and associate professor in the urban affairs and planning graduate program at Virginia Polytechnic University.