Cities & Urban Land Use Vocabulary

This flashcard set covers essential vocabulary related to cities and urban land use for exam preparation.

Annexation

Legally adding land area to a city in the United States.

Central Business District (CBD)

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

Central place theory

A theory that explains the distribution of services based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services; larger settlements are fewer and farther apart than smaller settlements.

Concentric zone model

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

Conurbation

An extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of one or more cities.

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.

Filtering (filter process)

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.

Greenbelts

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

Hinterland

The area surrounding a central place from which people are attracted to use the place’s goods and services.

Latin American city model

Combines elements of Latin American culture and globalization; includes a thriving CBD with a commercial spine and varying housing quality.

Market area

The area surrounding a central place from which people are attracted to use the place’s goods and services.

Megalopolis

Large coalescing supercities forming in diverse parts of the world; refers generically to conurbation.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

A central city of at least 50,000 population and the surrounding counties that meet functional connection criteria.

Micropolitan Statistical Area

An urbanized area with 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants and its surrounding counties.

Multiple nuclei model

A model of city structure where social groups are arranged around a collection of nodes of activities.

New urbanism

An urban design promoting development and revitalization to create walkable neighborhoods with diverse housing and jobs.

Peripheral model

A model of North American urban areas with an inner city surrounded by large suburban areas tied by a beltway.

Primate city

The largest settlement in a country, having more than twice the population of the second-ranking city.

Public housing project

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

Redlining

A process by which banks refuse to lend money to purchase or improve property within certain mapped boundaries.

Scattered site

Dwellings dispersed throughout the city rather than clustered in a large project.

Squatter settlement

An area within a city in a less developed country where people illegally reside on land they do not own.

Sector model

A model of city structure where social groups are arranged in sectors or wedges radiating from the CBD.

Suburb

A subsidiary urban area surrounding and connected to a central city, which may have residential and commercial areas.

Sprawl

Development of new housing at low density in locations not contiguous to the existing built-up area.

Underclass

A group in society unable to participate in the benefits of a more developed society due to various social and economic factors.

Urban realms model

A spatial generalization of late-twentieth century cities consisting of independent zones centered around suburban downtowns.

Urban renewal

A program aiming to revitalize blighted neighborhoods by acquiring properties and developing new infrastructure.

World city

A dominant city in the global political economy, not necessarily the largest in population or industrial output.

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 within a community.