Suburbanization was stimulated by which factor?

• A. The automobile
• B. Public transit expansion
• C. Urban renewal
• D. Telecommuting

Answer: (A)

The rise of the automobile gave households the mobility to live outside the city center while commuting to urban jobs, which fuels suburbanization. As cars became affordable and roads and highways expanded after World War II, people could comfortably live in single-family homes with more space and privacy, yet still access city workplaces for work and commerce. This newfound flexibility shifted housing growth to the suburbs and reshaped land use around metropolitan areas. In contrast, expanding public transit tends to reinforce staying closer to urban cores, urban renewal mainly rearranged city neighborhoods rather than driving outward movement, and telecommuting is a much later development that didn’t drive the mid-20th-century suburban boom.