Levittown, New York: Suburban Dream or Nightmare?

Abstract

After the Second World War developers built suburbs throughout the United States, in part, to accommodate a booming population and to satisfy veterans’ demands for housing. Levitt & Sons built the most famous of these suburbs, just outside of New York City, on Long Island. The suburb, however, predates the postwar boom by more than a century and, as an idealized way of life, the suburb embodies certain important attributes. This article considers the essence of the suburb in American history and examines whether Levittown, as a postwar suburb, has embodied those attributes to fulfill a dream or to create a nightmare.