Types of Communities: City, Suburb, and Country: First Grade Social
Communities come in three primary types—urban cities, suburban towns, and rural countrysides—each with distinct populations, buildings, transportation, and ways of life.
The Three Community Types
A community is a place where people live, work, attend school, and play together. Depending on how many people live close together and what the land looks like, geographers classify communities into three main categories: urban, suburban, and rural.
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| THE THREE COMMUNITY TYPES |
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| URBAN | Large city; tall skyscrapers; crowded streets |
| SUBURBAN | Town or neighborhood near city; single homes |
| RURAL | Countryside; farms, fields, wide open space |
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Comparing Densities
Density describes how tightly packed things or people are in an area. Urban areas have high density, meaning thousands of people live and work on every city block. Rural areas have low density, meaning houses and farms are spread far apart across open landscapes. Suburban areas sit right in the comfortable middle.
COMMUNITY DENSITY SPECTRUM
[ RURAL ] --------------> [ SUBURBAN ] --------------> [ URBAN ]
Country; Farms Neighborhoods Skyscrapers
Low Population Medium Population High Population
Open land, woods Yards, parks, cul-de-sacs Pavements, subways
Urban Communities: The Bustling City
Urban communities are large cities like New York, Chicago, Houston, or Los Angeles.
City Life and Architecture
In urban areas, land is limited, so buildings are built straight up into the sky. These towering buildings are called skyscrapers. In an urban area, people often live in high-rise apartment buildings rather than houses with private yards.
Cities are filled with museums, concert halls, sports stadiums, huge libraries, and restaurants serving dishes from every culture on Earth.
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| URBAN TRAIT | WHAT YOU OBSERVE |
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| Housing | High-rise apartments, condos |
| Transportation | Subways, city buses, taxis, walking |
| Noise Level | Busy sounds, car horns, sirens, crowds|
| Open Space | Rooftop gardens, paved public plazas |
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City Transportation
Because parking is scarce and streets are busy, many city dwellers do not drive personal cars. Instead, they use public transit like underground subways, electric streetcars, city buses, and taxis, or they walk and ride bicycles along bustling sidewalks.
Suburban Communities: Towns Near the City
Suburban communities, or suburbs, are towns located just outside or around a major city.
Suburban Neighborhoods
Suburbs combine features of both cities and the countryside. In a suburb, people often live in single-family houses or townhomes with front and back grassy yards. Streets are quieter and often end in circular loops called cul-de-sacs where traffic is slow.
Suburbs have neighborhood shopping centers, strip malls, community swimming pools, local sports fields, and public parks. Many adults who live in suburbs commute to work in the nearby city every morning by commuter train, bus, or highway.
THE SUBURBAN COMMUTE
[ Quiet Suburban Home ] ---> [ Highway / Train ] ---> [ Busy City Office ]
(Morning) (Commute) (Workday)
Rural Communities: The Wide Countryside
Rural communities are located out in the countryside, far from big cities and suburbs.
Country Life and Agriculture
In rural communities, you will see vast open skies, rolling green pastures, thick forests, winding dirt roads, and expansive agricultural farms. Houses are built far apart, often separated by acres of fields planted with corn, soybeans, or cotton, or pastures where horses and sheep graze.
Rural communities are the backbone of our food supply. Farmers and ranchers in rural areas grow vegetables, grains, and fruit, and raise dairy cows for milk, cheese, and butter that feed families living in cities and suburbs.
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| RURAL TRAIT | WHAT YOU OBSERVE |
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| Housing | Farmhouses, barns, ranches on big land|
| Transportation | Pickup trucks, tractors, school buses |
| Noise Level | Quiet, rustling wind, chirping crickets|
| Open Space | Vast fields, woods, ponds, wildlife |
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How the Three Communities Help Each Other
These three types of communities are not rivals; they are partners that depend on one another.
The rural farmer grows crisp apples. A suburban trucking company transports the apples along highways. The urban grocery store in the city sells those apples to city residents. Each community contributes its strengths to our country.
HOW COMMUNITIES CONNECT
[ RURAL FARM ] grows fresh wheat and dairy
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[ SUBURBAN PLANT ] bakes bread and packages cheese
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[ URBAN STORE ] sells sandwiches to city workers!
Exercises and Review
Exercise 1: Name the three main types of communities and describe what kind of homes people typically live in for each type.
Exercise 1 Solution: The three main types of communities are urban, suburban, and rural. In urban communities, people typically live in high-rise apartment buildings; in suburban communities, people often live in single-family houses with grassy yards; and in rural communities, people live in farmhouses or homes on large plots of land.
Exercise 2: How do rural communities help people who live in busy urban cities?
Exercise 2 Solution: Rural communities help urban cities by growing food crops like vegetables, grains, and fruits, and by raising farm animals for milk and meat, which are packaged and shipped to city grocery stores to feed city residents.