Chapter 13

how do governments see cities

nearly all governments recognize cities as legal entities with fixed boundaries

What are the three basic characteristics of a city?

ability to raise taxes, locally elected officials, responsibility for providing essential services

1. What is the functional area of a city?

MSA

1. What does the MSA encompass?

Created by the U.S. Office of management and Budget (OMB), using U.S. Census Bureau data, to reflect the extensive area of economic and cultural influence of settlements. An MSA encompasses the following:

1. What is a micropolitan statistical area?

Smaller urban areas of between 10-50k, the county in which it is located, and adjacent counties tied to the city

1. What is a Megalopolis?

A collection of adjacent or overlapping metropolitan areas that merge into a continuous urban region; the Megalopolis is also a complex in northeastern United States that extends from north of Boston to South of Washington, D.C.

1. Define the term CBD in one word.

downtown

1. List four characteristics of a typical CBD (pg. 464, left column).

· Compact- less than 1% of urban land area, but contains a large percentage of services

high threshold retailers

EX: department stores; traditionally preferred CBD for accessibility, but most have closed their downtown branch and are now in suburban malls. Downtown stores are now only for inner city residents, downtown workers, and tourists.

high range retailers

1. High Range- EX: retailers, often specialists with customers who visit them infrequently. Used to prefer CBD locations because customers were scattered over a wide area. Now they are mostly in suburban locations.

retailers serving CBD workers

shops that appeal to nearby office workers EX: office supplies, dry cleaning, rapid photocopying, shoe repair, lunch, etc.

changes in CBD

Though the volume of sales is stable, the patterns are changing; large department stores are decreasing and smaller stores that cater to needs of downtown labor force are increasing

instead waterfronts have been recreated into recreational parks and other tourist attractions

pull factors from urban to suburban

Larger homes with private yards and modern schools

how are CBDs increased/revived

new apartment buildings and townhouses, renovations, lofts, attracts people without children, nightlife,

1. How is the underground utilized in cities?

Garages, loading docks, pipes, cables; in cold climates- passages and shops because it shields people from cold and motor vehicles

1. How is "land use" distributed within a typical skyscraper?

- The nature of activity influences which floor it occupies

1. What is the only major U.S. city without skyscrapers?

Washington, D.C. because no building is allowed to be taller than the US Capital Dome

What are census tracts?

1. Portions of the united states that contain about 5000 residents and correspond to neighborhood boundaries; usually separates in block bounded by 4 streets.

1. What three types of data are reported by the U.S. Census Bureau regarding the population of each census tract?

Number of various ethnicities, median income of all families, percentage of adults who finished high school.

1. What other terms are used to refer to informal settlements?

Barriadas and favelas in Latin America, bidonvilles in North Africa, bastes in India, gecekondu in Turkey, kampongs in Malaysia, and baron-barong in Philippines

describe informal settlements

shanty towns, A residential area where housing has been built on land to which the occupants have no legal claim or has not been built to the city's standards for legal buildings, electricity is stolen, no transportation services

1. What is annexation?

Legally adding land to a city; as cities in the US grew, they expanded by adding peripheral land and now cities are surrounded by suburban jurisdictions that prefer to remain separate from large city

1. What is required before an area can be annexed by a city?

Normally land can be annexed only if majority of residents vote in favor (ppl used to support because it offered more services, but today people would rather organize their own than pay city taxes for them)

Define sprawl:

the development of suburbs at relatively low density and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area. Also fostered by the desire of some families to own large tracts of land

1. What is meant by the statement: the "periphery of U.S. cities looks like Swiss cheese"?

It has pockets of development and gaps of open space.

1. Describe the density gradient of an urban area.

Inner city are compact in how many people reside there and as you travel further out less people are living per hectare of land

1. In what two ways has the density gradient changed in recent years?

- Fewer people living in the center (gap in the center where few live)

1. What is the function of greenbelts in the U.K.?

Rings of open space that are required to limit sprawal; new housing is built in old suburbs or in planned extensions to small towns and new towns beyond the greenbelts. Restriction on the supply of land has driven prices of houses up in Europe

1. What is smart growth and what are examples

Legislation and regulations to limit suburban growth and preserve farmland. Oregon and Tennessee have defined growth boundaries and New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Washington have enacted plans. Maryland discourages funding of new projects that will destroy farmland.

1. In what two ways are suburban areas segregated?

Residential segregation- housing in a given suburban community is usually built for people of a single social class, with others excluded by virtue of the cost, size, or location of the housing. Segregation by race and ethnicity also persists in some suburbs.

1. What is a zoning ordinance?

A law that limits the permitted uses of land and maximum density of development in a community. Typically identify districts for single-family houses, apartments, industry, or commerce

1. Identify two ways in which the U.S. Government has encouraged the use of motor vehicles by its citizens.

- Comfort, choice, flexibility- live wherever and whenever, comfortable seats, choice of music, isolation from strangers

1. List four ways in which public transportation is better than an automobile.

- Better for environment

1. What is rush hour and how much of a city's traffic does it account for?

4 consecutive 15 minute periods that have the heaviest traffic; 40% of all trips into and out of CBD during 4 hours of the day

underclass services challenge

Services

gentrification

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

1. What three groups are attracted to gentrified areas and why?

Higher income residents, single people, couples without children

1. Why has gentrification been criticized?

Said to subsidies for the middle class at the expense of people with lower incomes, who are sometimes forced to move out of gentrified neighborhoods because rents in the area suddenly become too high for them

1. How has gentrification revived consumer services in the inner city?

To meet day to day needs of residents in gentrified but also for people looking for leisure activities

public housing

Government-owned housing rented to low-income individual, with rents set at 30 percent of the tenant's income.

1. What is the upside of fully autonomous vehicles?

Predicted to result in fewer accidents, provide mobility for people who are too young to drive or have a disability, decrease the safe distance between vehicles so more vehicles can fit on the road

place

A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.

region

an area defined by one or more distinctive characteristics

scale

portion between portion of earth being studied and earth as a whole

space

The physical gap or interval between two objects

connection

Relationships among people and objects across the barrier of space.

urban area

the area extending out from the city and its suburbs

In cities outside the United States more people live

in the CBD

zone in transition

ring immediately outside CBD, containing industry and poorer quality housing

outlying area that function as consumer and business centers are known as

edge cities

what is not normally found in CBD in Europe

industrial factories

Urban area

An area that consists of a central city and its surrounding built-up suburbs.

urbanized area

An urban area with at least 50,000 inhabitants

Urban cluster

An urban area with between 2,500 and 50,000 inhabitants