Living in Pennsauken gives me first hand view of a “first ring suburb”. Never heard of a first ring suburb? I hadn’t either till recently so let me share what I’ve found so far.
When scientists first documented the movement of the middle class from the inner cities to the suburbs, those new fangled “suburbs” were communities like Pennsauken. Near the city but far enough to get away from the crime, congestion and higher costs of the city. In those days, Pennsauken and similar towns, bordered on the rural. They were sparsely populated and offered land for development and very low prices.
Over time the infrastructure of roads, public transportation and services extended to serve the quickening rise of the suburban population. The trend of suburbanization really gathered steam after WWII and then again during the tumultuous ’70s.
But by then people had to look further and further away from the inner city; beyond the first ring suburbs that by then had burgeoning populations. That’s when outer ring suburbs appeared. Today, experts refer to the furthest ring as an “exurb”. In this region, you might say Voorhees or even “towns” further afield qualify as the exurbs.
The hallmark of these exurbs are those humongous homes on quarter acre lots with nary a tree in sight. They require an hour commute or more to the city job and virtually no public transportation. They have no center and commerce consists of the strip shopping centers along arterial roadways.
But there’s a looming problem in this exurb “paradise”. With rising gas prices, unbearable commutes and a host of other issues, the exurb has lost much of its appeal to a growing number of the middle class. They’re now thinking that it may be time to follow in the footsteps of the inner city gentrification pioneers and move back to the city.
Lacking the enterprising spirit of the early wave of folks back to the city, the hard reality of sky high prices for decent housing in the inner city hits them. What now?
We’re not sure what the answer is. I’m certainly not sure at all but I can tell you my theory: the middle class will take a long, hard look at first ring suburbs. They’ll figure out that they’ll get many of the benefits of the city at an affordable price.
On the hand, others say that Pennsauken and similar first ring suburban communities have suffered many of the same ills as the inner city did earlier: the flight of many middle class residents to outer ring communities, leaving behind poorer folks augmented by a surge of equally poor recent immigrants. The concentration of poor and lower income folks, coupled with an aged housing stock, may be the newest urban planning nightmare.
In future posts I’ll be exploring the inner suburb quandary and give you first hand reports on what’s going on in Pennsauken. Maybe that will help connect the reality of life and trends in this example a real first suburb, to the abstract issues. Along the way, I’ll share what I can learn from the experts on the subject. It will be an interesting and educational story.
Stay tuned.
