subtopia
/sʌbˈtəʊpɪə
/noun [mass noun] British
Unsightly, sprawling suburban development: I shall doubtless feel no more alien than anybody else in the prevailing subtopia because nobody will be working out of doors...
- Proposals for densification or adopting urban housing models are understandably slow to take root and have yet to make any discernible impact on the relentless march of subtopia.
- There are many varieties of downtown areas, and no two subtopias are alike.
- ‘The embers of the empire shimmer like a distant blood-soaked sunset as the urban subtopias of downtown blighty rumble to the rhythms of a brand new internationalism.’
Derivatives
subtopian
- My plan had been to head right through that subtopian labyrinth to the very edge, the scrubland beside the M57.
- I consider that even in the subtopian clutter of modern towns and cities, a stark beauty can sometimes be found.
- So now we fit in with the some of the other subtopian troglodytes in the area.
Origin
1950s: blend of suburb and utopia.