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With over half the Canadian population now living in the suburbs, Jill Grant says it鈥檚 an obvious time to study this increasingly popular living option 鈥� one that remains a bane to urban planners and downtown boosters.

Are people drawn to the concept of perfectly matching houses throughout a neighbourhood, the 鈥渓ittle boxes鈥� as the Weeds theme song goes, or is it the slightly sterile lack of urban energy often associated, fairly or not, with life in the 鈥榖urbs? More likely it鈥檚 a desire for living space inside and out that鈥檚 roomy鈥攁nd that鈥檚 tough find in the downtown core of most Canadian cities.

As costs associated with living in an urban environment continue to rise, more and more Canadians are pushing outward toward these readymade neighbourhoods-in-a-box. And, Dr. Grant, professor with Dalhousie鈥檚 School of Planning in the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, is casting her gaze to the 鈥榖urbs too. Her research project, 鈥淭rends in Residential Environments: Planning and Inhabiting the Suburbs,鈥� recently received just over $101,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada鈥檚 Standard Research Grants program.

The 'burbs, a history Suburbs, which are essentially small communities surrounding cities, grew throughout the mid-20th century as a result of improved road and rail transportation systems, and particularly as a result of an increased embrace of commuting. In the period immediately following Second World War, population booms saw North Americans gravitate to so-called 鈥渂edroom communities鈥濃�攕o named because people slept in their suburb but did much of their "living" in the urban centre. Suburbs tended to grow around cities with an abundance of flat land in the surrounding areas, extending as far as the countryside. Dr. Grant notes that one of the downsides of suburban communities is the rich, valuable farmland they consume鈥攁 resource increasingly in short supply.

So, what are the impacts of such an 鈥渙utward鈥� migration? Dr. Grant has a number of theories on the effects on our cities and towns. 鈥淭he suburbs and the core are affected by the same kinds of pressures and processes, but in different ways,鈥� she says. 鈥淪ince ownership of the car became quite common, living in the suburbs or in the countryside and commuting to the city has been easy. Developers looking for places to build new commercial spaces looked to the periphery to find relatively inexpensive land that would accessible to those in cars. Consequently, people and commerce drained from downtown.鈥�

The fate of our nation鈥檚 downtowns is directly tied to the trends in the Wisteria Lanes across the country, though it isn鈥檛 all in the direction of more or better 鈥榖urbs.

鈥淚n recent years, we see new attitudes about downtown that are renewing interest in living, working and shopping downtown,鈥� notes Dr. Grant. 鈥淒evelopers are reacting to that with new projects downtown. (Halifax) is reacting with new policies like HRMbyDesign.

鈥淎t the same time, development trends in the suburbs are changing somewhat鈥攍ots are getting smaller, homes are getting closer to the street; some suburbs are developing a bit of an urban feel.鈥�

Dr. Grant further suggests the suburban life may be getting a bit of a re-think, that the longer commuting time isn鈥檛 worth the extra square footage. 鈥淚n many cities the costs (in time and money) of commuting are getting so high that people are rethinking suburban life 鈥� We鈥檙e seeing more interest in rapid transit because people want to reduce their commuting time. But rapid transit is expensive in cities that sprawl too much. The current fiscal crisis is slowing down the development a bit, but it probably won't stop suburban development. In the larger cities we are seeing suburban-urban nodes developing: 鈥榯own centres鈥� that increase densities and mix uses outside of the major urban cores. That is increasing the numbers of people working outside the city cores, so it may affect commuting times and patterns.鈥�

Dr. Grant, who has been studying trends in planning for residential development planning in Canada and around the world since 1999, will use her newest study to fill gaps in existing knowledge including learning more about the perspectives of residents of the region鈥檚 suburbs. She鈥檒l talk to the denizens of HRM鈥檚 Ridgevales, Clayton Parks or Portland Hills to find out what attracted them to their neighbourhoods.

So the next time you鈥檙e parking the minivan in the two-car garage, rolling out the barbeque or watering your already green lawn, give some thought to why you may have chosen to become a suburbanite. Those thoughts may just end up going a long way toward answering the big questions dogging city planners everywhere.

Charles Crosby of Dalhousie鈥檚 Communications and Marketing Office lives in the suburban neighbourhood Kidston Estates.