The New Suburbia: Redefining Suburban Growth–Exploring Deeper Meanings and Dynamics

Dear Colleagues,

Some well-known aspects of suburbanization include its global reach, multifaceted appearance, and diversity. Consequently, suburban development and its continuous evolution have a profound impact on the structure of regions and settlement patterns. This has lasting social, environmental, and economic effects on the functioning of cities and larger metropolitan areas. In this regard, the study of suburban development has long been regarded as a scholarly pursuit that is aimed at understanding the various challenges and transformations confronting contemporary urban environments globally. This Special Issue aims to reimagine and explore the deeper meanings and driving forces behind urban expansion on the outskirts. Varying issues may arise here, some of which we intend to address in this Special Issue.

Increased focus on suburban development is essential to comprehensively understand its characteristics, origins, and implications across diverse fields of study. The implications of suburbanization can lead to, among other things, land depletion, the fragmentation of natural habitats, increasing segregation and inequality in housing, community, and health services, as well as education, transportation, cultural amenities, and even employment opportunities. Therefore, understanding the significance of suburbanization and deepening the research on this phenomenon are necessary. We invite additional researchers to contribute to our understanding of how dynamics, practices, and policy measures develop differently in suburban configurations and how they differ from those in cities or rural areas.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to bring together new research and review articles that enhance our understanding of deepening suburbanization on a global scale. The topics covered will include new terms and patterns of spatial development, effects on local and regional habitats, implications for quality of life, and strategies for addressing these effects through planning. Papers shall focus on one or more of these main areas of interest or associated issues and explicitly addressing contemporary challenges that suburban development brings to the urban periphery.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

• New suburban forms and typologies;
• Suburban sprawl and its ecological footprint;
• Sustainable suburban development strategies;
• Green infrastructure and climate change adaptation in suburban areas;
• Interrelationships between urban, suburban, and rural areas;
• Suburban inequality and social justice;
• Suburban poverty and economic vulnerability;
• The suburban labor market and remote work;
• Suburban lifestyles and consumer culture;
• Suburban identity and sense of place;
• The changing cultural landscape of suburbia;
• Mobility, migration, and suburbanization;
• The transportation–suburbanization nexus;
• Economic and political dynamics of suburban areas;
• Cross-national or cross-regional comparisons of suburban development patterns and challenges;
• Evaluations of suburban policies and their impact on urban and regional development.

Contributions at the intersection of the above issues are welcome, but contributions from other human–environment fields that forefront suburbanization scholarship will also be accepted.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Emil Israel
Prof. Dr. Amnon Frenkel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• suburbanization
• sustainability
• suburban inequality
• social justice
• suburban sprwal
• housing
• labor market
• mobility and transportation
• planning and policy