Welcome to CSSD

Opolis was the first academic journal specifically focused on suburban studies.

Suburbs increasingly have dominated urban development throughout the world. Over half the population of the US now lives in suburbs, while recent metropolitan growth in Europe, Australia, and East Asia has shifted dramatically to the edge. Even many developing nations - long home to big "primate cities" - have experienced explosive suburban growth.

Yet suburbia remained an under-researched topic given its size, scale, and centrality to society. Much of the existing literature demonizes the suburbs and attributes an endless array of social and environmental problems to them.

Opolis covered all dimensions of suburbia. It was a joint enterprise of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech; the Edward J. Blakely Center for Sustainable Suburban Development at the University of California, Riverside; and the Urban Planning Department of the University of Sydney.

The journal was published semi-annually. Three volumes were published -- Winter 2005, Summer 2005 and Winter 2006.

A Special Opolis Issue of Housing Policy Debate, Volume 19, Issue 3, was published in 2008. Housing Policy Debate is published quarterly by the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech.

Opolis Archives

(All papers in PDF format)

University of California, Riverside
900 University Avenue
Riverside, CA. 92521
Tel. (951) 827-1012

Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research

Center for Sustainable Suburban Development
B101 Highlander Hall
Riverside, CA. 92521
Tel. (951) 827-7830

Opolis Archives

(All papers in PDF format)

Vol. 1, No. 1 - Winter 2005

Vol. 1, No. 2 - Summer 2005

Vol. 2, No. 1 - Winter 2006