We don’t have to debate to what extent civic planners intended to divide people by color. In his book, The Color of Law, Richard Rothstein just straight-up quoted them. They weren’t shy, and they wrote it down in memos, meeting minutes, and even speeches.

That’s why I say that the suburbs are a product of racism… because the people who created them intended them that way, and said so.

For the economic analysis from the class perspective, look at why suburbs became entrenched, which has a lot to do with the auto industry.