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This Urbanist's Breakdown Of Why Suburbs Are So Dangerous Is Going Viral, And It's So Important

"Suburbs are a luxury, and we shouldn't be forcing society to subsidize this luxury."

As a child of the late 1900s, I grew up on a vision of the American Dream that always included a house in the suburbs (2.5 kids and golden retriever sold separately). But as an adult in the 2020s, that dream has never looked further away.

dad and two young kids riding bikes past a house with a white picket fence
Pm Images / Getty Images

A shortage of available homes is one factor that's driven home prices way up since the Great Recession of 2008. 

However, after learning more about the problems that suburbs cause for both urban and rural areas, it might be time to retire the old American dream and get to work on building a new one. Recently, urbanist Jon Jon Wesolowski (aka @jonjon.mp4 on TikTok) shared a video breaking down why suburban developments are actually incredibly problematic, and it's eye-opening.

Jon Jon Wesolowski standing on the street in a neighborhood
@jonjon.mp4 / Via tiktok.com

Wesolowski is a 35-year-old based out of Chattanooga, Tennessee who uses his platform to talk about how urban planning in America is making us all lonelier — and what we could change to build better, walkable cities that foster community. 

He told BuzzFeed, "There is such a hunger for a better public realm. Some people feel this without being able to articulate it. They long for community and connection and assume the reason they don't have a strong community is a personal deficit. I want to show people that the design of our environment influences people and their behavior."

In his video, Wesolowski makes a strong case that urban and rural areas each support each other, while suburbs create a drain on both. He explains, "Cities are the driver of economic development, technology and innovation, culture and the arts. And as such, they pay for and subsidize the infrastructure for rural areas. But that's okay, because rural areas are where we get our agricultural surplus which allows for cities in the first place."

Wesolowski talking into his earbud microphone
@jonjon.mp4 / Via tiktok.com

In summary, "You could say that cities and rural areas have a symbiotic relationship." The density in cities makes room for farming on rural lands, and rural areas produce food for the folks living in cities. "But then you have the suburbs, which does neither of these things," says Wesolowski.

Wesolowski goes on to argue that the infrastructure needed to support suburban developments (think: roads, streetlights, utilities, etc.) is heavily subsidized by both urban and rural residents because the suburbs don't produce enough tax revenue to foot their bills.

Wesolowski showing a map of Chattanooga
@jonjon.mp4 / Via tiktok.com

Wesolowski explains, "This is a map of my city: Chattanooga, Tennessee. The areas in green are tax flow positive. They can afford the infrastructure that surrounds them. And you can see the downtown is very green. The areas in the red and yellow cannot. And you'll notice it's the suburbs that cannot afford the infrastructure that's around them."

In many American cities, exclusionary zoning laws that favor single-family homes dictate what kinds of housing can be built. Wesolowski argues that these laws cause "cities to sprawl out and to grow, which means a typical American ci