AP HUG Vocab 13 - Urban Patterns

Annexation

Legally adding land area to a city in the US.

Census Tract

An area delineated by the US Bureau of the Census for which statistics are published; in urbanized areas, census tracts correspond roughly to neighborhoods.

Central Business District (CBD)

The area of a city where retail and office activities are clustered.

City

An urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent, self-governing unit.

Combined Statistical Area (CSA)

In the United States, two or more contiguous core based statistical areas tied together by commuting patterns.

Concentric Zone Model

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are spatially arranged in a series of rings.

Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA)

In the United States, two or more adjacent metropolitan statistical areas with overlapping commuting patterns.

Conurbation

A region comprising a number of cities, large towns, and other urban areas that have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area.

Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA)

In the United States, any metropolitan statistical area or micropolitan statistical area.

Council of Government

A cooperative agency consisting of representatives of local governments in a metropolitan area in the US.

Density Gradient

The change in density in an urban area from the center to the periphery.

Edge City

A large node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area.

Entrepot

A trading center, port, or simply a trading warehouse where merchandise can be imported and exported without paying for import duties, often at a profit.

Filtering

A process of change in the use of a house, from single-family owner occupancy to abandonment.

Galactic City

A mini edge city that is connected to another city by beltways or highways.

Gentrification

A process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class owner-occupied area.

Greenbelt

A ring of land maintained as parks, agriculture, or other types of open space to limit the sprawl of an urban area.

Latin American City Model

Griffin-Ford model. Developed by Ernst Griffin and Larry Ford. Blends traditional Latin American culture with the forces of globalization. The Central Business District is dominant; it is divided into a market sector and a modern high-rise sector. The elite residential sector is an the extension of the CBD in the "spine". The end of the spine of elite residency is the "mall" with high-priced residencies.

Megalopolis

When urbanized areas of two or more cities merge together, generally through suburban growth and expansion.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

In the US, a central city of at least 50,000 population, the country which the city is located, and adjacent counties meeting one of several tests indicating a functional connection to the central city.

Micropolitan Statistical Area

An urbanized area of between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, the country in which it is found, and adjacent counties tied to the city.

Multiple Nuclei Model

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a collection of nodes of activities.

New Urbanism

Outlined by a group of architects, urban planners, and developers from over 20 countries, an urban design that calls for development, urban revitalization, and suburban reforms that create walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs.

Peripheral Model

A model of North American urban areas consisting of an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential business areas tied together by a beltway or ring road.

Primary Census Statistical Area (PCSA)

In the United States, all of the combined statistical areas plus other metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas.

Public Housing

Housing owned by the government, rented to low-income residents with rents set at 30 percent of their incomes.

Redlining

The process by which banks draw lines on a map & refuse to lend money to purchase or improve property within the boundaries.

Rush Hour

The 4 consecutive 15-minute periods in the morning and evening with the highest traffic volume.

Scattered Site

A site in which dwellings are dispersed throughout the city rather than clustered in a large project.

Sector Model

A model of the internal structure of cities where social groups are arranged in a series of sectors, or wedges, radiating from the CBD.

Smart Growth

Legislation and regulations to limit suburban sprawl and preserve farmland.

Social Area Analysis

Statistical analysis used to identify where people of similar living standards, ethnic background and lifestyle live within an urban area.

Sprawl

Development of new housing sites at low density and at locations not contiguous to existing urban areas.

Squatter Settlement

An area within a city in a less developed country in which people illegally establish residences on land they do not own or rent and erect homemade structures.

Suburbanization

The process of population movement from within towns and cities to the rural-urban fringe.

Underclass

A group in society prevented from participating in material benefits of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic characteristics.

Urban Realms Model

includes a central business district, which is not only the center of the city, but meshes with the surrounding realms to create a fluid transition into each separate realm. It also includes a central city; a "new" downtown, most likely an edge city that has become so urbanized that it mimics the central city without being the central city; and a suburban downtown, the center of the suburbs of that city, giving those residents a downtown to go to if travelling to the central city is unlikely.

Urban Renewal

Program in which cities identify blighted inner-city neighborhoods, acquire the properties from the private owners, relocate the residents and businesses, clear the site, build new roads and utilities and turn the land over to private developers.

Urbanized Area

In the US, a central city plus its contiguous built-up suburbs.

World Cities

Centers of economic, culture, and political activity that are strongly interconnected and together control the global systems of finance and commerce.

Zone in Transition

An area that is either becoming more rural or more urban.

Zoning Ordinance

A law that limits the permitted uses of land and the maximum density of development in a community.