Contrary to popular belief suburbs are not a recent phenomenon, nor are they the same everywhere. The editors and contributors to this volume demonstrate how suburbs and the meaning of suburbanism change both with time and geographical location. Here the disciplines of history, geography and sociology, together with subdisciplines as diverse as gender studies, art history and urban morphology, are brought together to reveal the nature of suburbia from the nineteenth century to the present day and from Britain to North America and Australia.