The suburbs were once synonymous with economic mobility and the American Dream, but that is no longer the case.
Richard Florida of CityLab writes that the nation is facing a new suburban crisis. Poverty is growing at a faster rate in the suburbs than in cities.
In the suburbs, crime rates are rising, and factories and malls are closing. Suburban sprawl makes it difficult for low-income workers to commute to their jobs and get ahead financially.
While it remains true that persistently poor urban neighborhoods concentrate and perpetuate a cycle of poverty, poor suburban neighborhoods also present challenges: They isolate and disconnect their residents both from jobs and from economic opportunity, and also from the social services that can mitigate poverty’s worst effects.
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