Suburban housing estates in many countries are now finding themselves confronted with challenges resulting from declining growth and an ageing population. In this publication, the authors discuss the key elements of this development, showing how planners in different parts of Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and the U.S. are dealing with this problem. In doing so, they are aware of two facts. On the one hand, suburbia takes very different forms in each of the four countries, both physically and socio-economically. On the other hand, suburban housing estates in nearly all developed countries have a number of elements in common, making it useful to compare the different situations.

The International Workshop “Exploring the Future of Suburban Neighbourhoods under Conditions of Declining Growth” with the participation of European and US-American experts was organised by the ILS (Research Institute for Regional and Urban Development). The e-book covers the contributions presented at the workshop.

Content

I Introduction: (Page 5)
Challenges for the Future Development of Suburbia in Europe
and the United States
Frank Roost
II Suburban Neighbourhoods in Europe Today – A Comparative Overview (Page 7)
Tine Köhler, Magdalena Leyser-Droste
III How the Dutch Deal with Demographic Decline (Page 17)
Gert-Jan Hospers, Josefina Syssner, Wouter Jan Verheul
IV Demography-Driven Suburban Decline – At the Crossroads: (Page 21)
Mature Single-Family Housing Estates in Germany
Andrea Berndgen-Kaiser
V Family Houses in Transition: Fieldwork Notes (Page 34)
and Planning Explorations from Central-Northern Italy
Federico Zanfi
VI Shrinkage in Suburbia – The American Perspective (Page 42)
Karina Pallagst, René Fleschurz
Index of authors and co-authors (Page 55)