Boomburb

"Boomburb" is a neologism for a large, rapidly growing city that remains essentially suburban in character even as it reaches populations more typical of urban core cities. Like "edge city", an older and more widely accepted term, it describes a relatively recent phenomenon in North America.

Definition

Boomburbs are defined as places with more than 100,000 residents that are not the largest city in their metropolitan areas and have maintained double-digit rates of population growth over consecutive censuses. As of the 2000 Census, the United States contained 54 boomburbs, which accounted for over half (51 percent) of the 1990s growth in cities with between 100,000 and 400,000 residents. The boomburbs listed below are based on the populations of cities determined by and definitions of metropolitan areas used in the 2000 Census.

Boomburbs occur mostly in the Southwest, with almost half in California alone. Many boomburbs, especially in the West, are products of master-planned community development and the need to form large water districts. Las Vegas, with its expansive master-planned communities and desert surroundings, contains two boomburbs. By contrast, few boomburbs in the United States are east of the Colorado Front Range and north of Texas and Florida. Even large and rapidly growing Sunbelt metropolitan areas east of the Mississippi, such as Atlanta, lack boomburbs because suburban growth has occurred largely in unincorporated areas or in dozens of small municipalities.

The boomburb phenomenon can also be observed in Canada, in the Greater Toronto Area and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. These areas, centered on Toronto and Vancouver, are among the fastest-growing in the country. Two other areas experiencing major growth, the Calgary and Edmonton areas, lack boomburbs because much of the growth has occurred within the respective city limits.Fact|date=May 2007 For the Canadian cities, the 2006 Census applies.

Examples

Canada

British Columbia

*Vancouver region: Burnaby, Coquitlam, Richmond, Surrey

Ontario

*Toronto region: Brampton, Burlington, Cambridge, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Richmond Hill, Vaughan, Whitby

Quebec

*Montreal region: Laval, Longueuil

United States

Arizona

*Phoenix region: Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Mesa, Peoria, Scottsdale, Tempe

California

*Los Angeles region: Anaheim, Costa Mesa, Downey, Fullerton, Irvine, Lancaster, Orange, Oxnard, Palmdale, Santa Ana, Santa Clarita, Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks
*Riverside-San Bernardino region: Corona, Fontana, Moreno Valley, Ontario, Palm Springs, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Twentynine Palms
*Sacramento region: Roseville, Elk Grove
*San Francisco Bay Area: Antioch, Daly City, Fremont, Hayward, Santa Rosa, Sunnyvale
*San Diego region: Chula Vista, Escondido, Oceanside

Colorado

*Denver region: Aurora, Lakewood, Thornton

Florida

*Fort Myers region: Cape Coral
*Fort Pierce region: Port St. Lucie
*Miami region: Coral Springs, Hialeah, Hollywood, Miami Gardens, Miramar, Pembroke Pines
*Tampa Bay Area: Clearwater

Illinois

*Chicago region: Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, Naperville

Kansas/Missouri

*Kansas City Metropolitan Area: Independence, Olathe, Overland Park

Michigan

*Detroit region: Livonia, Sterling Heights, Warren

Nevada

*Las Vegas region: Henderson, North Las Vegas

North Carolina

*The Triangle (Raleigh-Durham): Cary

Texas

*Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex: Arlington, Carrollton, Denton, Flower Mound, Frisco, Garland, Grand Prairie, Irving, McKinney, Mesquite, Plano
*Houston region: Pasadena, Pearland, Sugar Land
*Austin region: Round Rock

Utah

*Salt Lake City region: West Valley City

Virginia

*Hampton Roads region: Chesapeake, Virginia Beach

Washington

*Seattle region: Bellevue
*Portland, Oregon region: Vancouver

References

*Lang, Robert E. and Jennifer B. LeFurgy (2007). "Boomburbs: The Rise of America's Accidental Cities". Brookings Institution Press.
*Lang, Robert and Patrick Simmons (2001). "Boomburbs: The Emergence of Large, Fast-Growing Suburban Cities in the United States." Fannie Mae Foundation Census Note 06.
*Lang, Robert (2003). "Are the Boomburbs Still Booming?" Fannie Mae Foundation Census Note 15.
*Knox, Paul and Linda McCarthy (2005). "Urbanization: An Introduction to Urban Geography". Pearson/Prentice Hall. Second Edition. pp. 163, 164, 560.
*Hayden, Dolores (2004). "A Field Guide to Sprawl". W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 26-27, 118.

External links

* [http://www.mi.vt.edu Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech]
* [http://www.planetizen.com/node/84 Planetizen: "Is Anaheim the New Brooklyn? " by Robert E. Lang and Jennifer LeFurgy]