Editing Exurb

{{Short description|Area of lower population density than suburbs}}
{{Use American English|date=November 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}}
[[File:Near the "Wedge" on Delaware-Maryland-Pennsylvania State Line (2894743106).jpg|thumb|Exurban-style density along the Pennsylvania–Maryland–Delaware border, part of [[Delaware Valley|Philadelphia metropolitan area]]]]
[[File:Massies Corner to Mount Airy.svg|thumb|Exurban development (left side) blends into suburban development (right side) in [[Loudoun County, Virginia]], in the western part of the [[Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area]].]]

An '''exurb''' (or alternately: '''exurban area''') is an area outside the typically denser inner [[suburbs|suburban area]], at the edge of a [[metropolitan area]], which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing-density,<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Gordon
 |first1               = David L. A.
 |editor-last1         = Maginn
 |editor-first1        = Paul
 |editor-last2         = Anacker
 |editor-first2        = Katrin B.
 |date                 = 24 March 2022
 |chapter              = The Canadian Dream? Growth Trends in Canada's Suburban and Urban Neighbourhoods
 |title                = Suburbia in the 21st Century: From Dreamscape to Nightmare?
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=9p9cEAAAQBAJ
 |series               = Routledge Advances in Sociology
 |publication-place    = Abingdon
 |doi                  = 10.4324/9781315644165-8
 |publisher            = Routledge
 |isbn                 = 9781317288183
 |access-date          = 14 November 2024
 |quote                = Technical definition: exurbs have a gross population density less than 150 people per square km and more than 50 per cent of workers commuting into the metropolitan area, as per OECD and Statistics Canada definitions (du Plessis et al., 2001).
}} 
</ref>
and relatively high population-growth.<ref>
{{cite book
 |last1                = Sharp
 |first1               = Jeff S.
 |last2                = Clark
 |first2               = Jill K.
 |editor-last1         = Brennan
 |editor-first1        = Mark A.
 |editor-last2         = Bridger
 |editor-first2        = Jeffrey C.
 |editor-last3         = Alter
 |editor-first3        = Theodore R.
 |date                 = 19 June 2013
 |chapter              = Settling at the Margins Exurbia and Community Sociology
 |title                = Theory, Practice, and Community Development
 |url                  = https://books.google.com/books?id=CRF_EBkWr58C
 |series               = Community Development Research and Practice
 |publication-place    = New York
 |publisher            = Routledge
 |doi                  = 10.4324/9780203773710-3
 |isbn                 = 9781135038908
 |access-date          = 14 November 2024
 |quote                = The rural-urban fringe, or what is increasingly referred to as exurbia, has attracted interest in recent years due to the relatively rapid population growth and land-use change occurring there.
}} 
</ref>
It shapes an interface between [[urban area|urban]] and [[rural area|rural]] landscapes, holding a limited urban nature for its functional, economic, and social interaction with the [[city centre|urban center]], due to its dominant residential character.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of the City |editor-last=Caves |editor-first=R. W.|first=Urbano|last=Fra Paleo|title=Exurbia|publisher=Routledge |year=2004 |page=254}}</ref> Exurbs consist of "agglomerations of housing and jobs outside the municipal boundaries of a primary city"<ref>{{cite journal|last=Shirgaokar|first=M|year=2014|title=Employment centers and travel behavior: exploring the work commute of Mumbai's rapidly motorizing middle class|journal=Journal of Transport Geography|volume=41|pages=249–258|doi=10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.10.003}} "Here the term exurb is taken from the North American planning literature, and is used to designate agglomerations of housing and jobs outside the municipal boundaries of a primary city. Such exurbs may have independent municipal governance."</ref> and beyond the surrounding suburbs.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Duffy|first=A|year=2009|title=Land use planning in Ireland – a life cycle energy analysis of recent residential development in the Greater Dublin Area|journal=The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment|volume=14|number=3|pages=268–277|doi=10.1007/s11367-009-0059-7|s2cid=56212626|url=https://arrow.dit.ie/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=engschcivart|url-access=subscription}} "The GDA was split into four zones each encompassing development at increasing radii from Dublin's city centre, namely: city centre, suburbs, exurbs and commuter towns."</ref>

==Definitions==
The word ''exurb'' (a [[portmanteau]] of ''extra (outside)'' and ''urban'') was coined by [[Auguste Comte Spectorsky]], in his 1955 book ''The Exurbanites'', to describe the ring of prosperous communities beyond the [[suburb]]s, that are [[commuter town]]s for an urban area.<ref>{{cite book |last=Spectorsky |first=Auguste C. |title=The Exurbanites |year=1955 | publisher=J. B. Lippincott & Co. |location=Lippincott, Philadelphia |oclc =476943}}</ref> In other uses the term has expanded to include popular extraurban districts which nonetheless may have poor transportation and underdeveloped economies due to their distance from the [[urban center]].<ref name="Shenjia"/> 

Exurbs can be defined in terms of [[population density]] across the extended urban area, for example "the urban core (old urban areas including [[Siming, Xiamen|Siming]] and [[Huli, Xiamen|Huli]], where the population density is greater than 51 persons per ha), the suburban zone (old urban and new urban transitional zones including Haicang and Jimei, where the population density is greater than 8 persons per ha), and the exurban areas (newly urbanized areas including [[Tong'an, Xiamen|Tong'an]] and [[Xiang'an, Xiamen|Xiang'an]], where the population density is less than 8 persons per ha)".<ref name="Ren" /> The mixture of urban and rural environments raises ecological issues.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Dog vs. bear: release the hounds! A new weapon in the battle to keep New Jersey exurbs bear-free|last=Vinzant|first=Carol|journal=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=17 December 2007|volume=40|number=45|page=2}}</ref><ref name="Ren">{{cite journal|author=Ren, Y., Wei, X., Wei, X., Pan, J., Xie, P., Song, X., Peng, D., & Zhao, J.|date=2011|title=Relationship between vegetation carbon storage and urbanization: A case study of Xiamen, China|journal=Forest Ecology and Management|volume=261|number=7|pages=1214–1223|doi=10.1016/j.foreco.2010.12.038}}</ref>

==Examples by country==
===China===
*[[Changping District]], Beijing
*[[Shunyi District]], Beijing
*Shenjia village, [[Loudi|Loudi city]], Hunan province<ref name="Shenjia">{{cite journal|title=Study on the Utilization of Vacant Houses in Rural Exurbs Under the Background of Rural Revitalization Strategy by Taking Shenjia Village in Hunan Province as an Example|last1=Zhang|first1=Ying|last2=Chen|first2=Zuzhan|last3=Sun|first3=Hongkai|last4=Zhang|first4=Shili|last5=Liu|first5=Haoqian|series=IOP conference series|journal=Earth and Environmental Science|date=1 December 2019|volume=371|number=2|page=22055}}</ref>

===Russia===
*[[Rublyovka]], Moscow<ref>{{cite web |last1=Salomatin |first1=Konstantin |title=Moscow's poshest neighborhood is shockingly empty as money pours out of Russia |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/rublyovka-the-richest-neighborhood-in-moscow-2015-6 |website=business insider |publisher=insider |access-date=11 August 2020}}</ref>

===United States===
{{see also|List of exurbs in the United States}}
Since the ''Finding Exurbia'' report by the [[Brookings Institution]] in 2006, the term is generally used{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} for areas beyond suburbs and specifically less densely built and populated than the suburbs to which the exurbs' residents commute.<ref name=b2006>{{cite news |url=https://www.brookings.edu/research/finding-exurbia-americas-fast-growing-communities-at-the-metropolitan-fringe/ |title=Finding Exurbia: America's Fast-Growing Communities at the Metropolitan Fringe |first1=Alan |last1=Berube |first2=Audrey |last2=Singer |first3=Jill H. |last3=Wilson |first4=William H. |last4=Frey |work=Living Cities Census Series |date=October 2006 |publisher=The Brookings Institution |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=2020-08-03 |quote=We first identify exurbs using census tracts—small areas with an average of 4,000 people—and then aggregate these areas to the county level for further analysis.}}</ref> To qualify as exurban, a [[census tract]] must meet three criteria:<ref name=b2006/>
# Economic connection to a large metropolis. 
# Low housing density: bottom third of census tracts with regard to housing density. In 2000, this was a minimum of {{convert|2.6|acre|ha|lk=out|abbr=off}} per resident.
# Population growth exceeding the average for its central [[metropolitan area]].
These are based on published datasets. Alternative approaches include working with [[Oak Ridge National Laboratory]] LandScan data and [[GIS]].<ref>{{citation|last=Taylor|first=Laura|date=2011|title=No boundaries: exurbia and the study of contemporary urban dispersion|journal=[[GeoJournal]]|volume=76|number=4|pages=323–339|doi=10.1007/s10708-009-9300-y|s2cid=128461360}}</ref>

Exurban areas incorporate a mix of rural development (e.g., farms and open space) and in places, suburban-style development (e.g., tracts of single-family homes, though usually on large lots). In long-settled areas, such as the U.S. [[Northeast megalopolis]], exurban areas incorporate pre-existing towns, villages and smaller cities, as well as strips of older single-family homes built along pre-existing roads that connected the older population centers of what was once a rural area.
The Brookings Institution listed exurban counties, defined as having at least 20% of their residents in exurban [[Census tract]]s.<ref name=b2006/>

==See also==
*[[Bedroom town]]
*[[Rural–urban commuting area]]
*[[Rural–urban fringe]]
*[[White flight]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Cities}}
[[Category:Types of towns]]
[[Category:Urban studies and planning terminology]]
[[Category:Urbanization]]
[[Category:Rural geography]]
[[Category:Public transport]]
[[Category:1950s neologisms]]