Our social-affairs editor picks five books about suburbia
From fiction and non-fiction, how to understand life on the fringes of cities
IT IS OFTEN said that the world is urbanising, but that is not exactly right. To be more precise, the world is suburbanising. In poor countries, population growth is fastest on the fringes of cities. In rich countries most people already live in suburbs. These hybrid places attempt to combine the best features of cities and villages, and seldom succeed perfectly. They have inspired some wonderful novels and non-fiction books.
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