Residential Preferences in the Suburban Era: A New Look?*

The intersection of gender, residential preference and suburban dominance is examined with data from a national sample of adults from a survey conducted by the Louis Harris organization. The data show a gender gap in residential preferences and challenge the conventional wisdom about women's residential preferences for the city. There are important implications: the migration of women to suburbs and the "fit" of women's residential preferences with those of men. This paper deals with the intersection of three emergent themes in urban sociology. First, the introduction of women's worlds into the study of cities and suburbs resulting in major questions about the generalizability of conclusions drawn mainly from male perspectives. Second, the shift in residential patterns such that the largest portion of the population of the United States now live in suburbs. This resulted, among other things, in a "suburban generation," ? the cohort of young people who were born and raised in the suburban landscape which came increasingly to dominate the United States after the Second World War. Third, the change in cities themselves. Urban change with job and population loss, fiscal crises, and decaying infrastructure is well known but it has not been considered before in conjunction with women's worlds and the suburban generation. Suburbs are changing, too. They are increasingly differentiated, with many suburban areas having reached the "critical mass" of density, jobs, shopping, and support services that women need.