Suburban Development and City Extensions

This thematic issue focuses on newly planned and currently transforming districts at the outskirts of major metropolitan areas in Europe. After reurbanisation and inner development dominated urban research debates as well as planning practice from the turn of the century onwards, in the wake of continuing influx into large cities and a subsequent shortage of affordable housing, suburbanisation is coming back into focus. The contributions in this thematic issue are clustered within three key thematic areas: (a) sustainability and the planning of urban expansion, (b) planning imaginaries and the realities of suburban living, and (c) governance, conflict, and negotiation. The contributing authors have analysed case studies in Spain, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, and Germany. While each case is different and analysed through a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, all show that suburbanisation is a timely and highly relevant topic that serves as a powerful lens for making current planning ideals and guidelines, contradictions and challenges, as well as societal power relations visible.