Governing States and Localities, Chapter 12

Metropolitan Area

A populous region typically comprising a city and surrounding communities that have a high degree of social and economic integration.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

An area with a city of 50,000 or more people together with adjacent urban communities that have strong ties to the central city.

Megaregion

An urban area made up of several large cities and then surrounding urban areas that creates an interlocking economic and social system.

Edgeless Cities

Office and retail complexes without clear boundaries

Sprawl

The rapid growth of the metropolitan area, typically as a result of specific types of zoning and development.

Zoning Laws

Regulations that control how land can be used.

Low-Density Development

Development practices that spread (rather than concentrate) populations across land.

Leapfrog Development

Development practices in which new developments jump - or leapfrog - over established developments, leaving undeveloped or underdeveloped land between developed areas.

Impact Fees

Fees that municipalities charge builders of new housing of commercial developments to help offset the costs of extending services.

Car-Dependent Living

A situation in which owning a car for transportation is a necessity; an outcome of low-density development.

White Flight

A demographic trend in which the middle and upper classes leave central cities for predominantly white suburbs.

Exurbs

Municipalities in rural areas that ring suburbs. They typically serve as bedroom communities for the prosperous, providing rural homes with easy access to urban areas.

Reform Perspective

An approach to filling gaps in service and reducing redundancies in local governments that calls for regional-level solutions.

Urban Growth Boundary (UGB)

A border established around urban areas that is intended to control the density and type of development.

Regional Council

A planning and advisory organization whose members include multiple local governments. Regional councils often are used to administer state and federal programs that target regions.

Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)

A regional organization that decides how federal transportation funds are allocated within that regional area.

Smart Growth

Environmentally friendly development practices, particularly those that emphasize more efficient infrastructure and less dependence on automobiles.

Interjurisdictional Agreement (KJA)

A formal or informal agreement between two or more local governments to cooperate on a program or policy.

City-County consolidation

The merger of separate local governments in an effort to reduce bureaucratic redundancy and service inefficiencies.

Annexation

The legal incorporation of one jurisdiction or territory into another.

Gentrification

The physical rehabilitation of urban areas, which attracts investment from developers and drives up property values.

Public Choice Model

A model of politics that views governments and public services in market terms; governments are seen as producers of public services and citizens are seen as consumers.

Tiebout Model

A model of local government based on market principles wherein a metro area is made up of a series of micropolitical jurisdictions that, on the basis of their services and costs, attract or repel certain citizens.

Rural Flight

The movement of youth and the middle class from rural areas to more urban areas.