Suburbanization was stimulated by the automobile’s rise. Which option is correct?

• A. The automobile
• B. The expansion of railways
• C. Telecommuting
• D. The internet

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is how transportation technology shapes where people live. The rise of the automobile gave individuals and families the freedom to reside farther from city centers and still commute to urban jobs, making suburbs practical, affordable, and appealing. As cars became common and highways expanded, people could buy homes with yards in new suburbs while keeping access to cities for work, shopping, and services. That mobility is what fueled the suburban boom.

Railways, while important for linking cities, typically concentrated growth along rail corridors and encouraged different commuting patterns that didn’t foster the same postwar suburban spread. Telecommuting and the internet are influential in later decades, but they weren’t the driving forces behind the mid-20th-century surge in suburban living; they tend to reduce the need to live near work rather than enable mass suburban expansion.