Suburbanization Is Better Than Living In The Suburbs

Living in the suburbs: is it better than living in the city if you have a family? Why would one want to live so far away from everything? Questions like these are going through the minds off millions of people around the world as suburbanization is becoming increasingly popular. But first what is suburbanization? To put it simply, it is the process of citizens migrating from the city to the suburbs (Filion and Bunting, 2015, p. 446). This has been happening largely since the mid-20th century, aligning with the popularity and easy accessibility of the automobile (Filion and Bunting, 2015, p. 28 - 29). In our modern society, the main factors that draw people away from the city and towards the suburbs is that suburban areas have less crime, are
“The racial minority or the 'black' population of this time [post World War II] had no access to employment opportunities or jobs and consequently crime rates were quite high, enticing the 'white' community to move to the suburbs or what was more commonly referred to as the 'White Flight'.” (Essays UK, 2013). This also has to do with urban crime and racialization but that is a topic for another time. Due to the suburbs having less crime they are looked at as being relatively safe areas. Looking at Fig. 1, there is a path that people both young and old take on a regular basis in Vaughan, Ontario. Looking at the picture you will see a path in the middle of the woods with no lights no illuminate the way. This path is taken late at night when it is pitch black all the time due to it saving around 10 to 15 minutes of walking. Not once has anyone been worried about being attacked or mugged in the path due to the area being regarded as a relatively safe area. To add, there have been no documented cases of anyone being confronted while in these paths. If this were located in downtown Toronto, people would be scared of using it due to the possibility of people hiding in there with criminal intentions, waiting for unsuspecting
Aside from that, suburbs are built with families in mind. Unlike the city, which focuses heavily on the night life for those old enough to purchase and consume alcohol; suburbs are very family friendly, with various activities dedicated to children such as sports arenas if you want a little competition or parks if you would prefer to relax and play causally. Parks are very common and you can often find several within a short walk of each other. Figures 2 – 6 show several different parks located in Vaughan, Ontario that were only separated by a very short walk of only 10 minutes, complete with soccer fields (Fig. 5) and baseball diamonds (Fig. 6). Anyone looking to raise a family will have no trouble finding things to do for their little ones, ensuring they are happy and healthy as they are growing