Exurb

Definitions

The word exurb (a portmanteau of extra (outside) and urban) was coined by Auguste Comte Spectorsky, in his 1955 book The Exurbanites, to describe the ring of prosperous communities beyond the suburbs, that are commuter towns for an urban area. In other uses, the term has expanded to include popular extraurban districts which nonetheless may have poor transportation and underdeveloped economies due to their distance from the urban center.

Exurbs can be defined in terms of population density across the extended urban area. The mixture of urban and rural environments raises ecological issues.

Examples by country

China

• Changping District, Beijing
• Shunyi District, Beijing
• Shenjia village, Loudi city, Hunan province

Russia

• Rublyovka, Moscow

United States

Since the Finding Exurbia report by the Brookings Institution in 2006, the term is generally used for areas beyond suburbs and specifically less densely built and populated than typical suburbs to which the exurbs' residents commute. To qualify as exurban, a census tract must meet three criteria:

1. Economic connection to a large metropolis.
2. Low housing density: bottom third of census tracts with regard to housing density. In 2000, this was a minimum of 2.6 acre per resident.
3. Population growth exceeding the average for its central metropolitan area. These are based on published datasets. Alternative approaches include working with Oak Ridge National Laboratory LandScan data and GIS.

Exurban areas incorporate a mix of rural development (e.g., farms and open space) and in places, suburban-style development (e.g., tracts of single-family homes, though usually on large lots). In long-settled areas, such as the U.S. Northeast megalopolis, exurban areas incorporate pre-existing towns, villages and smaller cities, as well as strips of older single-family homes built along pre-existing roads that connected the older population centers of what was once a rural area. The Brookings Institution listed exurban counties, defined as having at least 20% of their residents in exurban Census tracts.

References

References

1. Fra Paleo, Urbano. (2004). "Exurbia". Routledge.
2. Shirgaokar, M. (2014). "Employment centers and travel behavior: exploring the work commute of Mumbai's rapidly motorizing middle class". Journal of Transport Geography.
3. Duffy, A. (2009). "Land use planning in Ireland – a life cycle energy analysis of recent residential development in the Greater Dublin Area". The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.
4. Spectorsky, Auguste C.. (1955). "The Exurbanites". J. B. Lippincott & Co..
5. Vinzant, Carol. (17 December 2007). "Dog vs. bear: release the hounds! A new weapon in the battle to keep New Jersey exurbs bear-free". [[New York (magazine).
6. Ren, Y., Wei, X., Wei, X., Pan, J., Xie, P., Song, X., Peng, D., & Zhao, J.. (2011). "Relationship between vegetation carbon storage and urbanization: A case study of Xiamen, China". Forest Ecology and Management.
7. (1 December 2019). "Study on the Utilization of Vacant Houses in Rural Exurbs Under the Background of Rural Revitalization Strategy by Taking Shenjia Village in Hunan Province as an Example". Earth and Environmental Science.
8. "Moscow's poshest neighborhood is shockingly empty as money pours out of Russia". insider.
9. (October 2006). "Finding Exurbia: America's Fast-Growing Communities at the Metropolitan Fringe". The Brookings Institution.
10. Taylor, Laura. (2011). "No boundaries: exurbia and the study of contemporary urban dispersion". [[GeoJournal]].