Suburbanization in the United States

Suburbanization in the United States is the postwar movement of population and housing growth from cities into surrounding suburbs. It reshaped settlement through mass homebuilding, highway expansion, and changing patterns of work and residence.

Federal Housing Administration: A U.S. agency created in 1934 that insures mortgages and sets standards for participating lenders. Its mortgage insurance encouraged long-term, low-down-payment loans that expanded postwar home buying.
White flight: The large-scale movement of white residents from racially changing urban neighborhoods, especially to suburbs. White flight accelerated population loss in many central cities as suburbs expanded.
William Levitt: An American developer who led the mass construction of Levittown communities after World War II. His production methods made large-scale, standardized suburban housing a national model.
New Urbanism: An urban-design movement promoting compact, walkable neighborhoods with mixed uses and connected streets. Its principles explicitly counter the separation and car dependence common in postwar suburbs.
Housing segregation in the United States: The spatial separation of racial and ethnic groups across American neighborhoods and housing markets. Postwar suburban expansion both reflected and reinforced metropolitan housing segregation.
GI Bill: A 1944 U.S. law providing education, housing, and other benefits to eligible veterans. Its mortgage guarantees helped many returning veterans purchase suburban homes.
Urban renewal: Government-led redevelopment that cleared and rebuilt areas designated as blighted, especially in mid-century cities. Urban renewal displaced residents and businesses while suburban growth drew people and investment outward.
Robert Moses: A New York public official and urban planner who shaped regional infrastructure and development during the twentieth century. His road-building projects helped make automobile access to suburban areas central to metropolitan planning.
Smart growth: A planning approach that directs development toward compact, connected communities and limits outward sprawl. It offers policy tools aimed at redirecting the growth pattern suburbanization helped establish.
Exclusionary zoning: Land-use rules that restrict housing types or prices in ways that exclude lower-income residents. Suburban zoning continues to limit access to many high-opportunity communities.

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