I Heart First Suburbs

This past weekend, I paid a visit to one of my favorite cities–Chicago. Though I have spent most of my adult life in New York City, and most of my childhood in the suburbs, Chicago to me is a much more palatable place. Perhaps, it’s the Midwestern charm, the fact that it actually has four seasons, or that it is such a well planned city (in this department it has nothing on NY).

 

While I love Chicago, it has many of the same issues of most cities I have lived. It is statistically diverse, but spatially quite segregated. (Chicago is constantly ranked as one of the most segregated cities in America and has regularly been the ’social laboratory’ for studying race and ethnicity)  My visit got me thinking about why I am always disappointed about city life when I think of it in terms of spatial diversity. I have lived in 6 different major cities and have yet to find a historically diverse in-city neighborhood to call home—that’s relatively affordable.

 

Over and over again, what surprises me the most in my search for communities that are economically healthy, racially diverse, and somewhat affordable to various income strata is that these communities tend not to be in the city limits. They are in the ‘suburbs’.

 

No. I am not talking about suburbs of the ‘5 variations of the same house, several hundred square feet of strip mall configuration du jour, or street names that are all based on variations of oak or elm with cul-de-sacs at the end of each of them’ variety. I’m talking about “first ring suburbs”. “First suburbs” are neither suburban nor urban. These communities generally have the benefits of both suburban and urban living.  Most are in close proximity to the city, have relatively easy access to public transportation, tend to be walkable , and often capitalize on green space.

 

Even though many of them are challenged by the growth or decline of their neighboring city, those that work well have been able to capitalize on the needs of younger families who desire to be close to the city and have access to better schools, as well as older people and low wage earners who need to have ready access to services and public transportation.   While it is true that many first rings are struggling to maintain population, good schools, and infrastructure, and are often more sensitive to the growth or decline of their big city neighbors, survival and political will have driven a number of first rings to figure out how to market their unique place in community development. And in my opinion, housing strategy, whether formal or informal is driving the engine.

 

The best of them, from what I have seen tend to have homes running the gamut from grandeur to simple, condominiums and town houses, market rate rental and affordable rentals. For example, Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago takes fair housing more seriously than many. So much so, that they went to bat against Fannie Mae over its declining market policy. Just this past weekend, at their Village Day resources for renters, homeowners, and first time buyers were readily available. Cleveland Heights, outside of Cleveland (a city that is clearly struggling,)is the only suburb that did not have flat growth or decline in population between 2005 and 2006, has a rich array of housing options including lofts, affordable rentals, mansions, townhouses, and market rate apartments—and has created the public and private marketing necessary to demonstrate that Cleveland Heights is a place where you can ‘age in place’.  And there is Mount Vernon, NY—a suburb of New York City that has capitalized on ‘aging in place’ with its housing stock as well.

 These are but a few examples, and it is not to say that these places don’t struggle against pervasive issues that arise with their more urban neighbors, but I do think they demonstrate the fact that housing variety and strategy can play a large role in creating and cultivating spatial diversity in terms of race and ethnicity as well as income.

 

While many cities I have lived in play lip service to mixed-income communities, they lack the political will—with New York being the exception out of pure necessity—and foresight to figure out how best to plan it with out creating the ‘other side of the tracks’.  While cities put pretty bows on ‘affordable housing boxes’, it seems a number of first rings are figuring out how to attract the most residents without negatively affecting image and life style—even if only out of necessity