The suburbs of the Bible are pastureland, not housing. When Israel settles the land, the Levites receive cities to live in, plus open ground around them: “for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts” (Numbers 35:3). The land reaches a thousand cubits out from the wall, and then measured sides of two thousand cubits (Numbers 35:4-5). Joshua 14:4 explains why: the Levites got no tribal share of the land, only “cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.” Numbers 35 is the best place to read it.
4 verses
And the cities shall they have to dwell in; and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts.
And the suburbs of the cities, which ye shall give unto the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits round about.
And ye shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits; and the city shall be in the midst: this shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.
For the children of Joseph were two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim: therefore they gave no part unto the Levites in the land, save cities to dwell in, with their suburbs for their cattle and for their substance.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
The immediate vicinity of a city or town (Num. 35:3, 7; Ezek. 45:2). In 2 Kings 23:11 the Hebrew word there used (parvarim) occurs nowhere else. The Revised Version renders it “precincts.” The singular form of this Hebrew word (parvar) is supposed by some to be the same as Parbar (q.v.), which occurs twice in 1 Chr. 26:18.