Urban vs. Suburban

What are urban and suburban areas? The cause of confusion lies in the definition attached to each term. Nevertheless, it is important to know that the meaning of an urbanized or suburban territory may be differently perceived among the various countries.

Generally, suburban areas (also known as suburbs), pertain to residential districts. A suburb can also mean the surrounding residential areas of a bigger city, and a group of these can collectively be regarded as the suburbs. They can actually form a part of a really big city, or they can be several aggregates of distant residential areas. Quite often, it is seen that suburbs have a lower population density when compared to urban territories.

As mentioned, suburban areas are defined differently in some countries. Take Canada and America for example; these countries both define suburban as a different municipality from the major city. In the Australian region, suburban can also refer to a residential area, which is more or less a subdivision of the city. This scheme is devised for better postal servicing. Lastly, other population and statistics experts commonly agree that suburban areas are places outside the inner, or main, city. The only mistake is these places are sometimes considered as urban areas, which adds even more confusion.

Conversely, urban territories are often synonymous to a bigger number of residents, or people. The more humans living in a certain city, the denser its overall population will be. Moreover, the term urban can encompass the main city and the nearby towns, without incorporating the smaller rural establishments, like villages. If ever the urban city happens to include the latter, it will eventually be called the bigger metropolitan area. Either way, urban and metropolitan territories are more congested. There usually are more buildings, and the houses are closer together, unlike the suburbs where you can enjoy more space and have a bigger area for a backyard or garden.

Like the term suburban, urban is also perceived differently in many countries around the world. Depending on the total land area, urban territories require a denser populace, like China, for it to be called a purely urban territory. In Australia, an area can be regarded as urban if its density is more than 200 individuals per km2, while in Canada, it must be more than 400 inhabitants per km2.

1. Urban areas have a bigger population density compared to suburban areas

2. Urban areas usually include the inner, or main city, whereas suburban areas are those that are just adjacent to the city, or surround the city.

3. Urban areas are more congested in terms of people and establishments compared to suburban territories.

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