Commuter town: Difference between revisions

[[File:Cidade_Tiradentes_-_São_Paulo_City.jpg|thumb|[[SubprefectureCidade Tiradentes (district of CidadeSão TiradentesPaulo)|Cidade Tiradentes]] is a heavily populated area in the outskirts of [[São Paulo]] consisting mainly of public housing projects. On average, its inhabitants spend 2 hours and 45 minutes a day commuting between home and work.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mobilidade: paulistano leva uma hora e meia para ir e voltar do trabalho |url=https://www.capital.sp.gov.br/noticia/paulistano-leva-uma-hora-e-meia-para-ir-e-voltar-do-trabalho |website=Cidade de São Paulo |language=Portuguese| access-date=4 December 2021}}</ref>]]

A '''commuter town''' is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called [[commuting]], which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many other terms: "'''"bedroom community"'''" (Canada and northeastern US),{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} "'''bedroom town'''", "'''bedroom suburb'''" (US), "'''dormitory town'''", or "'''dormitory suburb'''" (Britain/[[English in the Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]]/Ireland).{{citation needed|date=November 2017}} In Japan, a commuter town may be referred to by the ''[[wasei-eigo]]'' coinage {{nihongo|"'''bed town'''"|ベッドタウン|beddotaun}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/ベッドタウン|title=ベッドタウンの英語・英訳 - 英和辞典・和英辞典 Weblio辞書|trans-title="Beddo Tawn" - English Translation, English-Japanese Dictionary, Weblio Dictionary|language=Japanese|access-date=4 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150712153410/http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/ベッドタウン|archive-date=12 July 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> The term "[[exurb]]" was used from the 1950s, but since 2006, is generally used for areas beyond suburbs and specifically less densely built than the suburbs to which the exurbs' residents commute.<ref name="auto">{{cite book |last1=Berube |first1=Alan |title=Finding Exurbia: America's Fast-Growing Communities at the Metropolitan Fringe |date=2006 |publisher=Brookings Institution |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20061017_exurbia.pdf |access-date=26 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204165955/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20061017_exurbia.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Often commuter towns form when workers in a region cannot afford to live where they work and must seek residency in another town with a lower [[cost of living]]. The late 20th century, the [[dot-com bubble]] and [[United States housing bubble]] drove housing costs in Californian metropolitan areas to historic highs, spawning exurban growth in adjacent counties.{{citation needed|date=October 2021}} {{As of|2003}}, over 80% of the workforce of [[Tracy, California]], was employed in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]].{{citation needed|date=February 2017}}

In Japan, most of the [[Japanese National Railways|national railway network]] was privatized by the 1980s but unlike [[privatisation of British Rail|in the UK]], both the national railway's tracks, trains, stations and real estate were included in the privatization agreements. Japan's [[private railway#Japan|privately operated railroads]] view real estate investment and development of commuter towns as central to their business model. These railroads continuously develop new residential and commercial areas alongside their existing and new routes and stations and adjust their train schedules in order to provide existing and prospective commuters with convenient work-commute routines.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Harding |first=Robin |date=2019-01-28 |title=Rail privatisation: the UK looks for secrets of Japan’s success |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/9f7f044e-1f16-11e9-b2f7-97e4dbd3580d, "Privatisation:|access-date=2023-08-15}}</ref> theThis UKis looksquite fordifferent secretsfrom ofNorth Japan’sAmerican success,commuter Unliketowns inthat Britain,are faresalmost andexclusively subsidiesthe haveresult beenof tightlytransportation controlled under private ownership",by car.

Where commuters are wealthier and small town housing markets are weaker than city housing markets, the development of a bedroom community may raise local housing prices and attract upscale service businesses in a process akin to [[gentrification]]. Long-time residents may be displaced by new commuter residents due to rising house prices. This can also be influenced by [[zoning]] restrictions in urbanized areas that prevent the construction of suitably cheap housing closer to places of employment.

The term ''[[exurb]]'' ( a [[portmanteau]] of "extra & urban") was coined by Auguste Comte Spectorsky, in his 1955 book ''The Exurbanites'' to describe the ring of prosperous communities beyond the [[suburb]]s that are commuter towns for an urban area.<ref>{{cite book | author = Spectorsky, Auguste C. | title =The Exurbanites | year=1955 | publisher = J. B. Lippincott & Co.|location=Lippincott, Philadelphia | oclc =476943 }}</ref> However, since a landmark report by the [[Brookings Institution]] in 2006, the term is generally used for areas beyond suburbs and specifically less densely built than the suburbs to which the exurbs' residents commute.<ref>{{cite book |last1name=Berube |first1=Alan |title=Finding Exurbia: America's Fast-Growing Communities at the Metropolitan Fringe |date=2006 |publisher=Brookings Institution |url=https:"auto"//www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20061017_exurbia.pdf |access-date=26 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204165955/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/20061017_exurbia.pdf |archive-date=4 February 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>