Innovative changes to urban areas are occuring rapidly, spurred by social media connectivity that has launched "livability" initiatives that are adding parks, green plants, bike lanes, and other transportation and environmental enhancements to cities. The goal is both to enhance their own living area while also attracting residents back to urban cities. Much of the change, when you think about it, is actually a suburbanization of cities. People living in the suburbs already have green all around them, whether it is their own yards or the big park down the street and along their drive to work or in their school playgrounds. Urbanists want that sense of fresh air and ability to connect and meet with neighbors more easily. Hence, the suburbanization of urban areas, creating meeting areas and bringing more green to the city.

1. 1 The Suburbanization of Urban Areas
Assessing the trend to green cities
Cities are turning green. Examples abound of changes to pavement, concrete, and parks that
are adding fresh life to cities, including tree-lined park areas and new street landscapes. At the
macro-level, development oriented changes include LEED building design standards and “smart
growth” zoning. The Ballston-Rosslyn orange line corridor in Arlington, VA is an example of the
latter. At the micro-level, bike lanes are being added, innovative pedestrian crosswalks are
improving safety and accessibility, and pedestrian plazas are sprucing up views; creating new
urban meeting areas. In between, redevelopment of abandoned areas, such as the High Line in
New York City, represents perhaps one of the finest examples of this trend to greener cities.
The High Line is such a revolutionary form of urban redevelopment, both for what was changed
and improved, but also for how it was accomplished. Its ‘double grassroots’ I guess you could
say: real world locals growing plants in the city. Robert Hammond1, Co-Founder of Friends of
the High Line, in a 2012 commencement (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zvawak8yTo)
address was filled with counter intuitive lessons amid the story of how the project started and
reached its current thriving success.2
The park is open from 7am-11pm during the summer. It currently has 9 entrance points
stretching from 11th Street to 30th Street on Manhattans west side. The High Line is a unique
public-private partnership as explained on their website3:
1
http://www.thehighline.org/about/friends-of-the-high-line/staff/robert-hammond
2
Pictures from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zvawak8yTo and
http://thebackquarteracre.blogspot.com/2010/07/traveling-high-line.html
3
http://www.thehighline.org/about/park-information
Marcus Bowman, 3G Mobility, LLC, June 2012 1

2. “The High Line is a public park built on an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets on Manhattan’s
West Side. It is owned by the City of New York, and maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line.
Founded in 1999 by community residents, Friends of the High Line fought for the High Line’s preservation
and transformation at a time when the historic structure was under the threat of demolition. It is now the
non-profit conservancy working with the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation to make sure the
High Line is maintained as an extraordinary public space for all visitors to enjoy. In addition to overseeing
maintenance, operations, and public programming for the park, Friends of the High Line works to raise the
essential private funds to support more than 90 percent of the park’s annual operating budget, and to
advocate for the preservation and transformation of the High Line at the Rail Yards, the third and final
section of the historic structure, which runs between West 30th and West 34th Streets.”
What to make of it all? Well, when you step back and think about what is happening, a theme
emerges. Urban livers want to get out in the fresh air. They want to see trees and parks around
them. They want less noise and fewer fuming trucks. They want a bit less concrete and asphalt.
In short, they want to look more like the suburbs. They want to walk out of their living
environment and see some green, to chat with a neighbor, and have a place to catch a breath
of air. Recently, listening to a talk about these great new urban advantages I was struck by the
fact that I have all that. I live in the suburbs. I have a yard and neighbors. I can walk out in the
backyard and see some trees, water the plants, and mow the lawn. I can walk out in the front
yard and chat up a neighbor. The air is fresh, the views green. That’s every day. People living
out in the suburbs have plants, yards full of grass, trees, and gardens that they tend to daily.
They often have big parks near where they live. So, what is striking about this urban trend is
how city dwellers now wish for their area to look more like the suburbs.
We are seeing what I call the "suburbanization of urban areas”. The suburbs do have a lot
more cars and a lot more driving. And they have their share of asphalt and concrete, but to the
idea of having more green around. They beat the urbanists to it. By a century or more.
Critics can surely, and quickly, snap right back about strip malls and all manner of things But
calling out what many might consider a true flaw of the suburbs is just that, one possible flaw.
And you can number up the flaws. The point is not necessarily a point-by-point pluses and
minuses comparison of urban areas to suburban ones. Any way you slice it, on a macro level or
an individual household level, there is a lot more green in the suburbs. The strip malls and
roads with seemingly endless miles of parking lots and big box stores. That’s the suburbs that
society brands. And it’s the one urbanists see when they rent their Zipcar to pick up a couple
things at Wal-Mart.
Urban areas started realizing why they have lost people. Populations shrank in urban areas
because their cities are dark and filthy. To correct the problem, cities are starting to green
themselves up. They are planting more trees. They are reclaiming old infrastructure and re-
making it in a more nature-oriented manner, such as The High Line in New York City.
Marcus Bowman, 3G Mobility, LLC, June 2012 2

3. And so urban areas are suburbanizing in order to keep and attract residents. The real trend—
both in terms of census statistics as well as look and feel—is suburbanization.
The pace of change in cities has been admirable and astounding. In such a short time, so many
different initiatives have occurred. There is little doubt how much the internet and especially
social media have enabled such rapid change. A broad array of people can more easily connect
and engage to bring about change. And at the same time, a 10-fold size of supporters is able to
track and promote initiatives. Even more are educated. New urbanists are on the cutting edge
of implementing new projects, socially, and quickly. But the trend of suburbanization is not
just a green one.
Lest you doubt this trend of The Suburbanization of Urban Areas, consider how many urban
areas are adding a Target, Best Buy, or Wal-Mart in the heart of a revitalizing area. It’s not just
about parks and fresh air. Cities are trying to attract residents. And to do that, they need to
take all that the suburbs do, and plop it in the middle of their cities. Thus it will likely extend
beyond transportation and living patterns. Might improving urban city schools come next? We
can only hope!
Not everything of course is a perfect bed of roses in the suburbs. It’s not always efficiently laid
out, etc. However, there is surely more to learn from, and less to correct, about the suburbs.
There is a reason people have chosen, over decades, to move out to suburban areas.
Will any of it matter? I would contend, as part of this hypothesis, urban areas have been well
behind on green change and will remain behind the curve. Suburban areas will be able to take
whatever is done in a city, and do it better. In other words, the suburbs have led the changes to
date; urban areas are trying to catch up; and while they do that, the suburbs will move beyond
to a next best thing. And/or, the suburbs by this, or by some other adaptation, will continue to
be ahead of the game—living greener whether they wear it on their sleeve or not.
Finally, and most radically, I would speculate that it might end up being small towns, in the
exurbs and beyond, that might beat them all. The right places, will be located within reach of a
big city, and yet small enough to have some flat out innovative initiatives and rules that take
advantage of their advantage—that they are the greenest places of them all, with the freshest
air. Anyway, in the middle will be the suburbs—able to easily dabble in the city and the exurbs
from their cutting edge, central location.
Marcus Bowman, 3G Mobility, LLC, June 2012 3