The nineteenth century Suburb and beyond

A reconsideration of suburbia and suburban life; its rise, appearance, structure, regulation, culture and households. From carriage and railway suburbs to the vast automobile suburbs of the late twentieth century, this conference will consider the myriad forms of suburbia; speculative, planned, local authority or idealised urban developments. An examination of the cultural creation, spatial imaginings and material fabric of the suburb; is the suburb progressive or repressive; how did the collective and the individualistic balance in the suburb; what impact did the suburb have on the creation of self – on family, sexuality, gender, race and nation – is the suburb essentially "English"; what has been the impact of late 20th urban developments(edge city, gentrification etc).