Culture
Suburbia, Reconsidered
In ‘The Sprawl,’ author Jason Diamond argues that America’s much-maligned suburbs are more diverse, culturally rich, and strange than you thought.
Most Americans now live in suburbs. But stereotypes about what they are supposed to look like — and who is supposed to live there — persist.
Photographer: David McNew/Getty Images
It’s a weird time for the American suburbs.
As the Trump administration attempts to secure votes in the lead-up to the 2020 election, the president has leaned in to a not-so-subtle tactic: promising to protect suburban America from the supposedly harmful influence of low-income housing, by abolishing an Obama-era rule designed to combat racial segregation.