Post-suburbia in the Context of Urban Containment: The Case of the South East of England

Abstract

Traditional models of urban development have tended to view it as a more or less ‘organic’ (almost biological) process growing out from a central core, around which various rings of settlement and economic activity are organized. These approaches seem stubbornly to retain their power in the language of inner cities, outer estates, suburbs and city-regions, but they have been under severe challenge over the last few decades. In recent years a wide range of spatial imaginaries has been called on as attempts have been made (by academics) to understand and (by policy-makers) to manage contemporary geographies of settlement and urban living.