Suburban Geographies of Crisis and Change
The 2007–2008 subprime mortgage crisis brought widespread attention to the conditions of suburbs in the United States, triggering a proliferation of critical interventions from across disciplines. These interventions investigated issues such as the “suburbanization of poverty,” suburban redevelopment, and the suburban socioeconomic and demographic changes that transpired during the years leading up to the crisis. This work has contributed to a reassessment—in theory and praxis—of the ways in which scholars and activists engage with numerous social and economic questions, which, for a long period, were considered the exclusive domain of the urban.
Now a decade removed from the advent of what has been called the Great Recession, we are interested in the post-crisis developments that have begun to unfold on the political, social, economic, and racial/ethnic landscapes of US suburbs. This session seeks to reveal and untangle the interacting processes undergirding these recent developments. In doing so, it aims to lend insights into the changing—or in some cases, persistent or recurrent—character of the suburban patchwork.
Within this basic framework, we invite critical contributions that speak to the following themes:
- Suburbanization of poverty
- Suburban gentrification and redevelopment
- Cityhood and annexation
- Race and racialization
- Spatial inequality and mobility
- Neighborhood inequality and residential segregation
- Housing construction and demolition
- Suburban planning
- Local political governance and economic development
- Suburban neoliberalization and (sub)regional competition
- Education & community resources
Potential session participants should submit abstracts (250 words maximum) to Coleman Allums (coleman.allums@uga.edu) and Scott Markley (scott.markley@uga.edu) by October 17th, 2016. Notification of acceptance into the session will be provided by October 21st. Participants will then be expected to register and submit their abstracts through the AAG website by October 27th.
