Defining a Word Three Ways

In this assignment, I defined a word three ways: with a parenthetical, sentence and expanded definition for the term ‘suburbanization’. The purpose of this assignment is to communicate a fairly technical concept from my field in three ways, to suit different audiences. I learned how to summarize concepts in different degrees of complexity, and how to illustrate written definitions with a helpful visual.

Suburbanization

In my field of Geography, this is one of the many terms used to explore complex processes of population migration, and the historic, economic and environmental impacts of these migrations. The objective of this assignment is to explain this term in three levels of detail for a non-technical audience, keeping concepts simple enough to be accessible to a wide audience, but capturing enough detail and nuance to ensure readers have a thorough understanding of the term. I have chosen my audience as post-secondary students who are studying in an unrelated field who may not have come across this term in their field of study.

Situation: Explaining the term ‘suburbanization’ to a post-secondary student in a field unrelated to geography/sociology/economic geography.

Sentence Definition: Suburbanization describes the process of populations shifting from living and working in central urban areas to spreading out to surrounding regions that are predominantly residential.

Expanded Definition: Suburbanization is a term that describes the movement of people from urban centres to the suburbs (Castree, Rogers & Kitchin, 2013). The suburbs are surrounding areas of a city that are often less densely populated than city centres and are largely composed of residential neighbourhoods. It is the opposite of the process of urbanization, where people migrate from rural areas to cities in search of employment and other opportunities.

In twentieth century North America, one primary reason people were driven to the suburbs was by the allure of a suburban lifestyle: more room for children to play, a reputation for safer schools, the ability to own their own cars, and to own much larger single-family homes (Jackson, 1987). The introduction of the affordable automobile in particular drove the process of suburbanization, as people could now live in the suburbs and commute into the city to work.

However, suburbanization has had complex ramifications on both urban and suburban dwellers. For example, as more people moved to the suburbs, industries (particularly white-collar work, but also manufacturing and retail) also moved to the suburbs. This contributed to de-industrialization and reduced investment in cities, leaving those who still lived in urban centres stuck in an economically declining area (Henslin et al, 2015). Lack of opportunities for youth and others in urban centres is one of the factors that leads to regions being branded as ‘ghettos’ or otherwise undesirable places to live, which further drives populations to migrate to suburbs. In other cases (for example, Vancouver), cities can become so expensive to live due to rising land prices and restrictive zoning that populations are forced to move to the suburbs, which unsettles the false image of suburbs as always composed of wealthy populations.

This image shows population migration in the USA in 2013 – note that suburbanization accounts for the largest population shift.

1. Castree, N., Rogers, A., & Kitchin, R. (2013). A dictionary of human geography. Oxford University Press.
2. Henslin, J. M., Possamai, A. M., Possamai-Inesedy, A. L., Marjoribanks, T., & Elder, K. (2015). Sociology: A down to earth approach. Pearson Higher Education AU.
3. Jackson, K. T. (1987). Crabgrass frontier: The suburbanization of the United States. Oxford University Press.