Shanghainese sub-urbanism. Features, rise and trends towards unified urban and rural development

Taking into account the general meaning of the term Suburbs (Oxford
English Dictionary, 2015) a contrast between the geographical
characterisation, (e.g. being “outside”), the qualitative one (e.g. depreciative,
implying homogeneity, monotony) and the one related to
“conformity of the inhabitants of the suburbs, or their way of life” can
be perceived.
The meaning of the term suburb can’t be considered homogeneous
and needs to be specified according to the time and place in which it
has developed, so that “in sum, surveying suburbs across the world, it
is evident that diversity is the norm rather than the exception” (Shen
and Wu, 2015).