郊区城市化指城市郊区乡村型社会地域组织向城市型社会地域组织演变的过程。这是城市蔓延的一种表现。

Suburbanization a population shift from central urban areas into suburbs, resulting in formation of (sub)urban sprawl. Suburbanization is inversely related to urbanization, which denotes population shift from rural areas into urban centers.

Many residents of metropolitan regions work within the central urban area, and choose to live in satellite communities called suburbs and commute to work via automobile or mass transit. Others have taken advantage of technological advances to work from their homes. These processes often occur in more economically developed countries, especially in the United States, which is believed to be the first country in which the majority of the population lives in the suburbs, rather than in the cities or in rural areas. Proponents of containing urban sprawl argue that sprawl leads to urban decay and a concentration of lower income residents in the inner city.