ABSTRACT
We have made the case that from the 1940s to about 1980 the primary dynamic of the US city was a suburban shift. Since then, we argue, the picture has become more complex. So, to reflect the difference from what came before, we use the term New Metropolis to reference this fundamental break from the past. This New Metropolis contains both growth and decline. It embodies all of the characteristics, tensions, and ambiguities of a postindustrial, postmodern, and increasingly divided society. No simple urban-suburban dichotomy can explain the resulting rich and varied metropolitan mosaic of growth and decline, expansion, and contraction.
