What is "suburb"

Suburb \Sub"urb\, n. [L. suburbium; sub under, below, near + urbs a city. See Urban.]

1. An outlying part of a city or town; a smaller place immediately adjacent to a city; in the plural, the region which is on the confines of any city or large town; as, a house stands in the suburbs; a garden situated in the suburbs of Paris. ``In the suburbs of a town.''
   --Chaucer.

   [London] could hardly have contained less than thirty or forty thousand souls within its walls; and the suburbs were very populous.
   --Hallam.

2. Hence, the confines; the outer part; the environment. ``The suburbs . . . of sorrow.''
   --Jer. Taylor.

   The suburb of their straw-built citadel.
   --Milton.

   Suburb roister, a rowdy; a loafer. [Obs.]
   --Milton.

early 14c., "area outside a town or city," whether agricultural or residential but most frequently residential, from Old French suburbe "suburb of a town," from Latin suburbium "an outlying part of a city" (especially Rome), from sub "below, near" (see sub-) + urbs (genitive urbis) "city" (see urban). Glossed in Old English as underburg. Just beyond the reach of municipal jurisdiction, suburbs had a bad reputation in 17c. England, especially those of London, and suburban had a sense of "inferior, debased, licentious" (as in suburban sinner, slang for "loose woman, prostitute"). By 1817, the tinge had shifted to "of inferior manners and narrow views." Compare also French equivalent faubourg.\n\n[T]he growth of the metropolis throws vast numbers of people into distant dormitories where ... life is carried on without the discipline of rural occupations and without the cultural resources that the Central District of the city still retains. [Lewis Mumford, 1922]

n. 1 The area on the periphery of a city or large town. 2 (context by extension English) The outer part; the environment. 3 (context AU NZ English) Any subdivision of a conurbation, not necessarily on the periphery.

n. a residential district located on the outskirts of a city [syn: suburbia, suburban area]

A suburb is a residential area or a mixed use area, either existing as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city. In most English-speaking regions, suburban areas are defined in contrast to central or inner city areas, but in Australian English, "suburb" has become largely synonymous with what is called a " neighborhood" in other countries and the term extends to inner city areas. In some areas, such as Australia, China, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and a few U.S. states, new suburbs are routinely annexed by adjacent cities. In others, such as Arabia, Canada, France, and much of the United States, many suburbs remain separate municipalities or are governed as part of a larger local government area such as a county.

Suburbs first emerged on a large scale in the 19th and 20th centuries as a result of improved rail and road transport, which led to an increase in commuting. In general, they have lower population densities than inner city neighborhoods within a metropolitan area, and most residents commute to central cities or other business districts; however, there are many exceptions, including industrial suburbs, planned communities, and satellite cities. Suburbs tend to proliferate around cities that have an abundance of adjacent flat land.

Suburb (Spanish: Suburbio) is a 1951 Argentine drama film directed by León Klimovsky and starring Pedro López Lagar, Fanny Navarro and Zoe Ducós. The film portrays life in one of the poorer neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. Under pressure from the Peronist authorities, Klimovsky changed the ending to suggest that the problems of such communities were now a thing of the past.