ABSTRACT
The lower cost of doing business coupled with favorable weather and environmental conditions have lured thousands of companies, investors, and job seekers to America's sunbelt crescent. Within booming sunbelt and western regions, the suburbs, and accretions beyond, have been the major recipients of growth in general, and prodigious office and new home building in particular. This chapter examines pertinent demographic, economic, and commuting trends in the suburban spheres of the nation's fastest growing standard metropolitan statistical areas (SMSAs). The Atlanta region stands out for its increasingly insular pattern of commuting–residents within Atlanta's city limits are making relatively more intraurban journeys whereas those living outside of the city proper have stepped up their intersub-urban travels. The mobility implications of urbanized suburbs are profound. A labyrinth of commute patterns now characterizes our city scapes, casting serious doubts over the future of conventional bus transit and other shared-ride modes of transportation.
