I have also heard this critique applied to retail spaces, Disney World, and resorts. They project one image but they are not what they seem. They are real places – you can walk around, you can buy things, etc. – but not real at the same time. They lack authenticity. (This might imply there are places that are authentic, not imitations. They are what they are. This is another matter.)
Are there suburbs that are real places, where the facade is not a facade, that feel like what they actually are? Or suburbs that are honest about the challenges they face alongside the possibilities they might offer? How accurate is the narrative that the American suburbs are inauthentic or is this more prevalent in cultural works?
I have been studying and writing about religion in the American suburbs for about ten years now. After recently publishing a book on evangelicals embracing suburbia – Sanctifying Suburbia– and more recently also looking at a variety of religious traditions over time in the Chicago suburbs, I had this thought:
This is a broad statement. But if I were to put the two social forces side by side – suburbanization in the United States and religion (and all that entails) in the United States – I would come down on suburbs affecting religion more than the opposite. Here is a couple of ways to think about:
As religious groups have moved to the suburbs, whether Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jewish, or others, they often have to adapt to suburban settings.
How much do religious congregations, organizations, and adherents in suburbia shape community life or social life at the structural level (beyond individuals, small groups, some social networks, more micro level)? Another way to put it: if these religious groups were not present, how different would suburban life be?
I am going to keep thinking about this claim and may write more about it. Even as religion has served to provide meaning and structure for many humans and societies across time and space, suburbia is a powerful place and ideology.
There’s no shopping to speak of and there are barely any sidewalks to stroll on. Bradbury is almost entirely comprised of gated sub communities and homeowners associations, SFGate reported.
If you don’t already have a friend that lives there, it’s not wise to go up to someone’s house looking to make some. That’s because the town has an ordinance banning people from walking up to front doors and knocking without permission.
And since its founding in 1957, a time when the suburbs were expanding in Southern California, Bradbury and the residents who live there have said they don’t even want cars passing by to stop for even the briefest moment, urging them to keep driving.
The town is so locked down that most of the public roads that abut its borders are dead ends or run straight into tall, guarded gates with signs that read ‘Royal Oaks’ and ‘Bradbury Estates.’
The landscaping also does quite a bit to send the message that outsiders aren’t welcome, with most homes being shrouded by towering hedgerows and bushy trees.
Why? This is an small exclusive suburb. These are scattered across the American landscape where wealthy homeowners have their own community. According to the US Census, the community has 921 residents, the median household income is over $158,000, the population skews older, more than 90% of homes are owned, and over 80% of homes are worth over $1 million. The community’s website starts with text saying “Preserving Rural Tranquility” and features numerous images of the landscape and horses.
One thing wealth can do is enable people to live exactly where they want. This often involves living near other wealthy people. And this can mean putting distance or barriers between those with money and others. It sounds like this community has a variety of methods to discourage visitors who might threaten that rural tranquility, including gated subdivision, large landscaping features, no soliciting, and no sidewalks.
When big-box stores like Toys R Us or Buy Buy Baby close, they leave behind tens of thousands of empty square feet — spaces that can be difficult to fill.
Finding new tenants for these massive spaces is no small task. But one unlikely contender, pickleball — among the nation’s fastest-growing sports — is breathing new life into these cavernous retail spaces.
From Vernon Hills to Batavia, commercial indoor courts are opening at a steady clip, bringing renewed energy, foot traffic, and consumer spending to shopping centers facing an uncertain future…
Retail market experts believe repurposing vacant big-box stores as indoor pickleball facilities is a smart business move. These spaces offer high ceilings, ample parking, and central locations. For pickleball chains seeking an affordable 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot space, these vacant stores provide an ideal solution…
One key concern is tax revenue. Unless the facility also sells equipment, apparel, or food and beverages, the host municipality won’t see much financial benefit from sales tax, leaving a gap that traditional retail stores typically fill.
Vacancies are bad for multiple reasons. They sit empty, suggesting there is no demand for space in the community. They may attract undesirable activities. They are not generating revenue. The buildings and parking lots may not be kept up to the same level of open stores.
Filling vacancies, therefore, is important. Anything using the space broadcasts activity and suggests a more vibrant community.
But also important is the need for revenue. Spaces in suburbs designated for commercial use are intended to help provide tax dollars to be spent on local priorities. If these spaces are not generating revenue, might they be better used for housing or community spaces or recreation use?
From the article, it is less clear about whether pickleball facilities can provide the tax revenues suburbs might hope for. Is there a point where suburbs might be unhappy with pickleball there, even if they do address the vacancy issues?
The name of the new movie Holland refers to the community in west Michigan. Numerous reviews note that the film says something about the suburbs. A few examples: first, from Variety:
Through it all, Macfadyen seems suspiciously good-natured, which merely encourages us to guess what he might be hiding. The “Succession” star brings a disconcerting Kevin Spacey-like energy to his performance, which reinforces the connection some might detect between “Holland” and 1999’s “American Beauty” — another movie about the toxic black mold that thrives just beneath the veneer of suburban perfection.
Kidman does her best to be the MVP of “Holland,” imbuing Nancy with just enough Midwestern nicety to make her memorable. Nancy is the kind of woman who wants to be a perfect wife and mother but also wants some mystery in her life and responds to the attraction of the handsome new teacher at her school. She’s a suburban shark, always swimming to a nearly impossible objective of keeping her pristine reputation in the community, holding her family together, and having a fling with Dave. While she doesn’t make any bad choices, there’s a version of “Holland” that lets Kidman loose, turning the temperature up on this character’s emotions in a manner that Cave feels tentative to do.
Watching Kidman play a happy homemaker in a pretty suburban town might swiftly recall Frank Oz’s underrated 2004 comedy remake of The Stepford Wives, which Kidman starred in.
You get the idea: the setting and the plot add up o a film that seems to say something about the American suburbs. This is familiar ground in American movies (as well as novels, TV shows, songs, and other cultural works)
But is Holland, Michigan a suburb? Here is what Wikipedia says:
The city spans the Ottawa/Allegan county line, with 9.08 sq mi (23.52 km2) in Ottawa and the remaining 8.13 sq mi (21.06 km2) in Allegan. Holland is the largest city in both Ottawa and Allegan counties. The Ottawa County portion is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area, while the Allegan County portion anchors the Holland micropolitan statistical area, which is coextensive with Allegan County. The city is part of the larger Grand Rapids–Wyoming combined statistical area.
Since metropolitan areas have boundaries based on counties, it seems that part of the city is part of the suburbs of Grand Rapids, a city of nearly 200,000 people and a metropolitan area of over 1 million people. But a good portion of the city, home to over 37,000 residents, is also its own smaller urban area.
Do the people of Holland see themselves as suburbanites? How many commute to Grand Rapids and other parts of the region? Are there cultural and historical ties to Grand Rapids?
None of this may matter for putting together a film. Filming scenes in downtown Holland or within neighborhoods in the community may look suburban. How many people watching really want to have authentic places that match what is being described? (For example, once I have seen a few studio backlots, it is hard to unsee them.) If the movie is about the suburbs, who is to say it isn’t?
“We need for people to be in it. We need for them to, do as our plan: get out of the building, walk around town, eat in the restaurants, drink in the coffee shops, drink in the bars, that kind of thing.”
Once a development is built, it takes time for the suburb to consider the impact on the community. If suburbs are going to pursue more density in their downtowns, which can often contrast with lower density homes throughout the rest of the community, they want certain things from the high-density development. They want those residents to patronize downtown businesses and restaurants. They want money to flow within the downtown. They want a particular downtown atmosphere where people are out and about (and not too noisy).
What happens if this does not come to fruition? What if the new development does not fill up quickly or if the residents do not spend much time downtown? Perhaps the municipality will seek a critical mass of downtown development to be able to provide enough downtown residents. Or perhaps they will seek the right mix of downtown attractions with certain kinds of shops and eateries.
And how much development will a suburb seek in its downtown? It might depend on whether it is “successful” in the eyes of the community.
Americans like suburbs for multiple reasons. Some of these reasons might appear to support homeowners having chickens while others might seem to oppose it. A quick breakdown:
-Closer to nature: suburbanites keeping chickens feel they are closer to the land and to animals. Suburbs with chickens can feel more like rural areas.
-Middle-class aspirations: suburbanites pay a lot of attention to what yards should look like. For example, lush green grass is a preferred option in many places. Chickens can disturb this aesthetic. Or keeping chickens might be considered something that contributes to a lower status for a neighborhood or a community. At the same time, middle-class residents can tout the financial benefits of keeping chickens instead of paying for eggs.
-Single-family homes and the rights of property owners: suburbanites take property rights seriously. If you own your home, shouldn’t you have freedom to do with it what you want? However, many Americans live in HOAs that have particular standards or suburbanites live in communities where particular standards are maintained (such as the maximum length of the lawn). Is the ability to live a quiet suburban life with higher property values hampered if a neighbor has chickens?
Suburbanites could make arguments for chickens and against them out of the same common suburban values. This could mean that all of these debates are then local and depend on the context of the community. How many community members are in favor? How does the community view itself and do chickens fit into that vision? Do the current economic conditions push residents and leaders in one direction?
Vito Perillo, the mayor of Tinton Falls, Monmouth County, died over the weekend at the age of 100. According to Governor Phil Murphy, Perillo was the country’s oldest mayor.
We sometimes see stories of young mayors, perhaps a college student or young adult who is elected. They are at the start of adult life and may be perceived as not having the life experience that could help in leading a community.
On the other hand, being elected mayor at 93 could mean the community benefits from the wisdom of many years lived. That person could have decades of relationships and experiences in the community. They could have a sense of what the community was and how it understands itself.
In some suburbs, the mayoral role is less involved than the city manager role. Mayors are elected by residents while managers are professionals who take care of day-to-day operations. Mayors may be the ones who show up at community events, vote in local council meetings, and cheerlead for local happenings.
At what age would suburban residents say someone is generally too old to be mayor? At least in this suburb outside New York City, residents elected Perillo twice to lead the community.
To put it most simply, the evangelical ethos is activistic, populist, pragmatic, and utilitarian. It allows little space for broader or deeper intellectual effort because it is dominated by the urgencies of the moment. (12)
Does this cultural approach to life among American evangelicals match the cultural life in American suburbs?
One important element I would add to Noll’s description above is “individualistic.” Suburbanites and evangelicals both privilege their standing before considering the collective fate of their neighborhoods, communities, and country. They envision social change starting with the efforts of themselves and a few others around them. They spend much of their energy focused locally. They think less about larger social structures.
Evangelist Billy Graham adopted this approach when considering the world’s ills. In his messages across decades, he often started with the issues facing the world. Crime, communism, war, unrest. And the answer Graham provided to all this was not to listen to experts and scholars talk about social factors that provoke bad activity but rather to address the issue of sin in every person and for people to turn to Jesus. By transforming individual hearts, Christians could then positively influence society and address the social ills Graham started with. I discuss this in more detail in Chapter 8 of the book.
Thus, evangelicals found suburban settings to be welcoming or comfortable as their approach to the world complemented and was influenced by suburban settings.
I began to see the birds walking on the streets of Wheaton in small groups. I had never seen wild turkeys in a residential area before. I quizzed people about the birds and nobody in the area was surprised by their presence.
I asked people from out of the area about the birds and they thought I was insane. I carried photos I had taken in my neighborhood to prove my sanity. People could not believe the Wheaton turkeys truly existed.
The sight of wild creatures in the suburbs may astound but I would guess many suburbanites would be hard pressed to show where animals live in the suburbs. They might be able to find the rabbits that live under their deck but where did that fox come from? Or where do those Canadian geese go at night? Does that circling hawk live nearby? And so on. The suburbs may offer their residents proximity to nature but that nature can be elusive.
Legally Sociable 