Getting Uppity In Suburbia

Why do U.S. suburbs have aristrocratic British names? The answer lies in the secrets of "real estate branding."

1 minute read

February 26, 2001, 8:00 AM PST

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech

"Anglophilia runs deep in American culture, but it's been particularly useful in helping Americans lay out a fantasy for how they want to live, a measure of wealth and success that's guided urban planners for a century...We anoint our suburbs with the names of invented British estates out of insecurity, nostalgia and a love of fantasy... British names give suburbs an air of, well, suburbanity -- the promise of a retreat from city life, with a connotation of the landed class...Steve Katz, a former real estate marketer and founder of the Congress for the New Urbanism, says the English names are a way of masking our uncomfortable proximity to each other...Would people drive home to Arby's Overlook? Balmoral-upon-Interstate 90?"

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan

FULL STORY: Getting uppity in suburbia

Thursday, February 22, 2001 in Salon

Social / Demographics United States

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