Reinventing the railroad suburb: community conflict in the new suburbia

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which suburban governments contend with market and citizen pressures to influence land use policy.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper utilizes a comparative case study approach by analyzing primary documents and conducting open‐ended interviews.

Findings

It can be argued that the historical context of suburban development, the cultural conceptions of suburbia, and the extent of civil society's participation in decision making are important factors in understanding how suburbs are dealing with growth challenges.

Practical implications

The cases studied here likely have attributes that are typical of other suburbs in North America.

Originality/value

The paper emphasizes the importance of cultural conceptions of the landscape in influencing stakeholder attitudes – an element often neglected in public policy analysis.

Citation

Bartling, H. (2010), "Reinventing the railroad suburb: community conflict in the new suburbia", Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, Vol. 4 No. 4, pp. 312-322. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506201011086110