Everywhere in the rich New World suburbia came up. In Australia, Canada and New Zealand you also have suburbs. US economic policy didn't have much effect there

Everywhere in the rich New World suburbia came up. In Australia, Canada and New Zealand you also have suburbs. US economic policy didn't have much effect there. Suburbia is partly driven by people having cars and having wealth. It works fairly well as long as the city isn't too large and traffic and the problems of having efficient public transit and low densities come up. Another thing that drove suburbs is that cities were not as good as they are now. There were lots of slums and problem areas and people didn't have much space. Living downtown appeals to young wealthy people now but it was less fun living with your parents and possibly your grand parents.