Transnational Suburbanism

In 2022, I became part of a transnational team of scholars collectively studying suburbia and urban peripheries, across disciplines and national borders. This initiative has been funded by the EU Erasmus+ Programme, and our team includes scholars from the Czech Republic, France, Germany, and the U.S. - Andy Wiese and I represent the U.S. We’ve met in person periodically to share our work and insights about the processes and experiences of suburbanization, in Europe and the U.S. Click here for the project’s website.

It has been mind-opening. Some of our European colleagues study American suburbs through literary analysis and cultural studies. Our Czech colleagues use geo-infomatics to map out social patterns in metro areas in Czechia, tracking social and cultural patterns, and introducing us to diverse methodologies in their field. Our French colleagues educated us on the history of urban peripheries in France, and their distinctive periodizations and patterns - fascinating to compare to U.S. patterns.

Andy and I hosted the group in San Diego/Los Angeles in September 2023. We held two days of panels at SDSU and the Huntington Library — and Andy and I led a wide-ranging van tour of Southern California suburbia from San Diego to Los Angeles. We’re planning to reprise the LA leg of this tour for the upcoming Urban History Association conference in October 2025. Join us if you’re in LA!

On May 13-14, 2024, our group held a capstone event — a “Transdisciplinary Conference on Suburban Studies” at Palacký University, Olomouc, Czech Republic. At historic Palacký University (f. 1573), we held a series of workshop panels, photo exhibitions, story maps, and tours, and it drew in about 70 attendees and presenters from Europe and the U.S. We are producing an edited volume out of that conference, with the working title, Suburbia Reconsidered: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on a Global Trend. And we hope to launch more collaborative initiatives with this group. On top of it all, my generous colleagues at Palacký University “baptized” The New Suburbia, for its European book launch — a truly memorable moment for me.