Suburban Europe

[Swede]

Europe is often seen as a utopia of urban-ness by some, but let's be realistic and look at how much of our metros are actually suburban in nature and by that I mean what the built environment is like, not how political borders are drawn. Some of it is American-style suburbia, some is commie-block 'hoods and some is actually old villages/towns that have expanded a bit while being swallowed into a commuter-belt.

My own city, Stockholm, is known for it's medieval Old Town (which barely has any medieval buildings at all) and scenic urban core but the urban core is home to just 15% of the metro population (the metro is less dense than the Netherlands). This might be a bit extreme for a European city, but I don't think it's all that extreme.

So how do the 85% of us who live in suburbs live? it's fairly evenly split between single family houses + rowhouses and multifamily housing in modernist enclaves. Result: segregation is high and increasing as nowhere near enough new housing is built for all the people moving here.

How are your cities built? how big are the suburban areas, how urban are they?