This paper is organized into four parts. Part One, The Historical Pattern and Its Study, notes that the impulse to suburbanize is probably as old as the city itself. However, because of magnitude alone, contemporary suburban settlement would have to be assessed as a phenomenon that is uniquely different from its predecessors. Part Two, The Changed…

The emphasis in this report is on how public service quality affects urban decline and middle-class flight. It is pointed out that the key role in decline is played by neighborhood "external diseconomies," which result from the way municipal services are financed, produced, and distributed in metropolitan areas. It is also pointed out…