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-�. C��mprchcn�i��c'�ci��hh�,urh�,c�ti Stu�lic�: Ch�u�:�rtc�iii�i�> [�,,, "� ,�. � • Suburbs sometimes decline faster than central cities. Declining suburbs were mainly located in slow growing metropolitan areas in the Northeast and Midwest. Declining suburbs are not necessarily those immediately adjacent to, or near central cities, they are found throughout the metropolitan area. • Small suburbs are not buffered against the forces of decline. Nearly one- third of suburbs with populations less than 10,000 lost population during the 1990s. By contrast, only 18.4 per cent of large suburbs declined. • Residents' income declined in one-third of suburbs relative to their central cities between 1�0 and 1�JU, and income decline was concentrated in middle-aged suburbs developed between 1945 and 1970. • Median size of new housing increased from 1100 square feet in 1950 to 1920 square feet in 1995. �.2.10. Subarba� Deeline In Confronting Suburban Decline: Strategic Planning for Metropolitan Renewal Lucy and Phillips (2000) contend that due to the "tyranny of easy development decisions," developers build new housing where government regulations permit. They avoid in-�11 projects because of protests from neighbours and insufficient support for compact development from public officials. Orfield (1998) distinguishes three types of suburban communities in the largest metropolitan areas in the country: (1) socio-economically declining inner suburbs; (2) outer-region satellite cities and low tax-capacity developing suburbs (places without a strong base from which to raise locai revenue); and (3) commercial, high tax-capacity, developing suburbs. Socio-economically declining inner suburbs are often distressed communities that are fully developed and beginning to experience socio-economic decline moving spectrally out of the central city. These areas are defined by a combination of increasing social needs and low tax base; they often do not have sufficient social or economic resources to respond to growing social challenges. Orfield notes that many older transitioning suburbs on the south and west sides of Chicago and communities such as Camden, New Jersey, Compton, California, and East St. Louis, Missouri suffer much more severe segregation, deprivation, and intense levels of crime than the cities they adjoin (ibid.) The scholar identifies several reasons why inner-ring suburbs are less stable than central cities (ibid.): • Central cities have a comparatively stable resource base. Inner-ring suburbs are often bedroom communities without commercial-industrial base or stable housing values. • Cities have social-governmental systems in place to cope with poverty and social change. Inner-ring suburbs without tax base or ability to provide such services are often stricken by social problems as they cross city/suburban borders. l0