Action Research

Suburbs

Suburbs - everywhere has one. Love them or hate them, suburbs conjure up a certain stereotype, with which the English are particularly ambivalent. The Trust’s 5 year Joseph Rowntree Foundation research budget into sustainable suburbs put the subject on the map and demonstrated just how difficult it is to categorise them, and just how challenging it will be to make them more mixed use, less of a dormitory, more integrated into their town and city centres, less car-dependent, reducing their hungry use of resources from land to energy, and continuing to invest in making them attractive places to live to attract the necessary work force to settle in our towns and cities.

Suburbs now feature in planning policies from the GLA and SEEDA. The Trust chairs the In Suburbia group which continues to keep suburbs under review. This partnership was formed in 2002, between The Civic Trust, Bury Metropolitan Borough Council, The London Borough of Harrow, Hampshire County Council, Rushmoor Borough Council, the South East Regional Development Assembly and the Local Government Association.

Reports were produced for both Urban Summits to contribute to the sustainable communities debate. The 2005 report set out the partnership's vision for the future: In Suburbia - Delivering Sustainable Suburbs.

A number of new members have joined the group; Surrey County Council, Brighton and Hove Council, West Midlands Regional Assembly, RIBA and associate members Wycombe District Council, Wokingham District Council, Southampton City Council and URBED.