Aninner suburb is asuburban community central to a large city, or at theinner city andcentral business district.[clarification needed] Theurban density is usually lower than the inner city or central business district, but higher than that of the city's rural–urban fringe, orexurbs.[1]
In theCommonwealth countries (especiallyEngland andNew Zealand), inner suburbs are the part of theurban area that constitutes thezone of transition, which lies outside thecentral business district, as well as the (traditional)working class zone. The inner suburbs of large cities are the oldest and often the most denseresidential areas of the city. They tend to feature a high level ofmixed-use development. Traditionally, suburbs have been home to theworking class, but asmanufacturing jobs have migrated to the periphery of cities, many inner suburbs have becomegentrified.[2]
In theUnited States, inner suburbs (sometimes known as "first-ring" suburbs) are the older, more populous communities of ametropolitan area that experiencedurban sprawl before thepost–World War II baby boom, thus significantly predating those of their outer suburban orexurban counterparts.[3]
InOnce the American Dream: Inner-Ring Suburbs of the Metropolitan United States, Professor Bernadette Hanlon defines inner-ring suburbs as "contiguous suburbs adjacent to one another and to the central city, where more than half the housing stock was built prior to 1969".[4]