Seminar: "Suburbanization – City Growth in North America, Western Europe and South-East Asia Compared"

Speaker: Prof. Dr. Detlef Briesen (University of Giessen, Germany), Visiting Professor at the Faculty of History.

Since the 19th century, cities all over the world saw an enormous growth. Despite the amazing impressions of contemporary skylines everywhere

 urban growth in general is rather characterized by horizontal than by vertical expansion,  suburbanization respectively.

 In urban science including history, geography,  sociology etc. and during the last decades the latter mainly has been characterized by using paradigms

 developed in American urbanism. The Chicago school in particular pointed out that horizontal growth of 

cities follows ring-like patterns. The paper gives a closer look at the real development of cities since the 19th 

century, elaborates typical structures of horizontal city growth in different continents and even countries:

 The edge city in North America, the city landscape in central Europe, and the village-city in South-East Asia.

 These differences are understood as complex outcomes of urban traditions, economic and social developments, 

migration and its specific reasons and circumstances, consumer choices, and city planning.

 Three prototypes of urban growth are analysed in detail: The metropolitan areas of Los Angeles,

 Frankfurt, and Hanoi.