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Learning about suburban communities that sit just outside of big cities and how they differ from urban centers.
Imagine having a big backyard for a swing set, but being close enough to see the bright lights of a giant city from your window. How can a place be quiet and roomy while still being near the action?
A suburb is a community located just outside of a big city. Think of it as the 'middle ground' between a busy, crowded city and the quiet, open countryside. Suburbs are mostly residential, which means they are filled with places where people live rather than tall office buildings. In a suburb, you will see many single-family homes. These are houses that stand alone instead of being stacked on top of each other like apartments. Most of these homes have their own yards for playing and driveways for parking cars. Because things are more spread out, suburbs usually have more trees and less noise than the center of a city.
Imagine you are looking at two pictures: 1. Picture A shows a very tall building with floors and no grass around it. 2. Picture B shows a house with a front porch, a green lawn, and a mailbox at the end of the path.
Picture B is a classic example of a suburban home because it has its own private space and is not attached to dozens of other homes.
Quick Check
What is one feature of a suburban home that you usually won't find with a city apartment?
Answer
A private backyard or a driveway.
Suburbs and cities are like best friends—they need each other! Many people choose to live in the suburbs because it is quieter and has more room, but they still travel into the city for work, museums, or sports games. This daily trip is called a commute. Since suburbs are spread out, people often use cars or commuter trains to get around. The city is often called the urban center. While the city provides the jobs and big attractions, the suburb provides a peaceful place to sleep. This relationship keeps both areas busy and growing.
Let's look at a worker named Mr. Garcia. 1. He lives in a suburb that is miles away from the city. 2. Every morning, he drives miles to his office in the city. 3. Every evening, he drives miles back home.
To find his total travel distance, we add: miles. This -mile trip is his daily commute!
Quick Check
What do we call the trip people take from their home in the suburbs to their job in the city?
Answer
A commute.
The biggest difference between a suburb and a city is density. Density describes how many things (like people or houses) are packed into a space. Cities have high density, meaning buildings are tall and close together to save room. Suburbs have low density. Buildings are shorter and farther apart. In a city, you might have people living on one small block in a tall apartment. In a suburb, that same amount of land might only have or houses. This extra space allows for wider roads, bigger parks, and shopping centers with large parking lots.
Imagine a city block and a suburban block are the same size. 1. The city block has apartment building with people inside. 2. The suburban block has houses with people in each house. 3. First, calculate the suburban total: people. 4. Now compare: The city block has people, while the suburb only has .
The city is much more 'dense' because .
Which of these is a common feature of a suburban neighborhood?
Why do many people in the suburbs own cars?
A city usually has a higher density (more people in less space) than a suburb.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow, try to explain to a friend what a 'commute' is and why it connects the suburb to the city.
Practice Activity
Draw a map of an imaginary neighborhood. Include three suburban houses with yards and one tall city building in the distance to show the difference in size!