Beyond the Sidewalk: Pedestrian Risk and Material Mismatch in the American Suburbs

American suburbs designed in the twentieth century to house a growing middle class are experiencing escalating poverty. Utilizing a mixed-method social epidemiology, this study finds high pedestrian risk in these communities, where a high poverty rate coincides with high levels of suburban sprawl. In declining suburbs, those without access to an automobile navigate a landscape centered upon the private automobile. Suggesting the term ‘material mismatch’ to describe cases where the configuration of the built environment is incongruent with the needs of a growing population of residents, the study makes a contribution to mobility studies, environmental justice research, and urban sociology.