suburbanizationn.
/səˌbəːbənʌɪˈzeɪʃn/, /səˌbəːbn̩ʌɪˈzeɪʃn/, U.S. /səˌbərbənəˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/, /səˌbərbəˌnaɪˈzeɪʃ(ə)n/ The action of making something (esp. a rural area) suburban; the fact of being suburbanized.
ΚΠ
1870 T. Wright Bane of Life I. i. i. 45 They remain the distinct suburbs they have always been, and maintain the open order characteristic of the earlier stages of suburbanization.
1926 Daily Tel. 3 Aug. In the urbanisation or suburbanisation of the country motor transport is destined to be even more effective than railways.
1951 N. Pevsner Middlesex (Buildings of Eng.) 55 Finchley Parish had only 1,500 inhabitants in 1801 and still only 7,000 in 1871. Thereafter suburbanization set in.
1978 H. Carpenter Inklings iv. 64 They still went on walking tours, until the increasing suburbanisation of the countryside and the outbreak of war brought that annual event finally to a halt.
1991 Atlantic Sept. 36/3 The suburbanization of non-whites has made desegregation impracticable in an increasing number of places.
2010 Irish Independent (Nexis) 6 July (Letters section) Planning controls in the Irish countryside..resulted in a significant erosion of the character of the country through rampant suburbanisation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1870