It may be that suburbanism is one of the West’s greatest inventions. Not only have suburbs come to dominate the built environment of North America, they have also taken hold across the world, even in those regions that invented the city. As suburbanism has changed, so has its meaning, and we can follow some of these developments through the photographic record.

Start with London, the city that spawned some of the earliest suburbs in the modern era. You can find a fascinating and exhaustive pictorial record of London’s suburbs here.

Next, come to the United States, and view suburbia through the lens of three of that country’s most important photographers. Compare the work of Bill Owens, William Eggleston, and Gregory Crewdson.

New suburbs are emerging elsewhere around the globe, and they seem to possess the same utopian impulse that fed classical suburbia of years past. Three contemporary photographers take on the suburbs of Northern Mexico, China, and Ankara, Turkey. They are Alejandro Cartegena and Richard Rowland, and Mark Slankard.

From our readers:
Click here to see an example of Taryn Hubbard‘s ongoing poetry and photography project.

“In Surrey City Centre, where this project takes place, there is an ongoing shift to centralize and urbanize what used to be a poor commuter suburb east of Vancouver, B.C. into a downtown hub of its own. To create a downtown takes time, though, and my project captures ruptures in the quest to urbanize Surrey City Centre.”
-Taryn Hubbard

Want to share your suburbia photos with carte blanche? Send us an email with your photos or a link to your (or your favourite photographer’s) website and we will post our top picks online.