outskirts vs. suburbs vs. exurbs

[cinyc]

Great question.

I don't think there's any agreed upon definition of suburb or exurb, and the boundary between then is up for discussion. Sometimes, there's a parkland or greenbelt buffer between the two, like in the northern suburbs of NYC - I'd characterize Rockland, Westchester and maybe Putnam county towns as suburbs, and Orange and Dutchess county towns as exurbs, but in other places of the NYC metro where there is no clear demarcation, it becomes harder. For example, where do the exurbs start on Long Island? Probably somewhere in Suffolk County, perhaps where the main lines of the LIRR stop - but it's not clear.

Exurbs do tend to be more recent-growth areas, but not all recent-growth areas are exurbs, particularly in smaller metros.

[cinyc]

Great question.

I don't think there's any agreed upon definition of suburb or exurb, and the boundary between then is up for discussion. Sometimes, there's a parkland or greenbelt buffer between the two, like in the northern suburbs of NYC - I'd characterize Rockland, Westchester and maybe Putnam county towns as suburbs, and Orange and Dutchess county towns as exurbs, but in other places of the NYC metro where there is no clear demarcation, it becomes harder. For example, where do the exurbs start on Long Island? Probably somewhere in Suffolk County, perhaps where the main lines of the LIRR stop - but it's not clear.

Exurbs do tend to be more recent-growth areas, but not all recent-growth areas are exurbs, particularly in smaller metros.

As someone who has lived in Nassau County my whole life other than college, I'm tempted to say the Sagitkos Parkway is the dividing line on Long Island, but Route 112 is probably more realistic and an argument could be made for as far east as the William Floyd Pkwy.

The Sagitkos Parkway is a pretty decent dividing line - the Northern and Southern State Parkways end shortly after there (I guess the SSP technically becomes the Heckscher Parwkay to the east of it), and at least the Babylon Branch of the LIRR ends within. Route 112 would also take into account the main terminus of the Ronkonkoma Branch of the LIRR. The William Floyd Parkway is pretty far out, on the other side of a little bit of the pine barrens - and out of the urbanized area, at least on my map. I think the argument for that is tougher.