Geography-Urban Environments

Brownfield site

Land that has been used, abandoned and now awaits some new use. Commonly found in urban areas, particularly in the inner city.

Business park

A purpose built area of offices and warehouses, often at the edge of a city and on a main road.

Congestion

When there is too great a volume of traffic for roads to cope with, so traffic jams form and traffic slows to a crawl.

Deprivation

When people lack what the rest of society considers ‘normal’ such as good housing, reasonable income of access to healthcare.

Ethnic group

A group of people sharing the same characteristics of race, nationality, language or religion.

Greenfield site

A plot of land, often in a rural or on the edge of an urban area that has not yet been subject to any building development.

Inner city

That part of the built-up area and close to the CBD, often characterised by old housing, poor services and brownfield sites.

Landuse

What types of buildings/economic activities exist in an area such as residential, retail and industrial.

Land value

The market value of a piece of land; what businesses or individuals are prepared to pay for it.

Mega-city

A city with a population exceeding 10 million.

Planner

A decision-maker whose job it is to decide how to use land e.g. where to build roads, or houses. Planners often decide to conserve areas such as Greenfield sites by not allowing development.

Rebranding

Regeneration that also tries to give an area a new image. Rebranded areas often have names and logos e.g. MediaCityUK in Salford.

Retail complex

A purpose built area for shopping (and often leisure), such as an out of town shopping centre or retail park.

Self-help housing

When people in shanty towns / squatter settlements gradually improve their own housing and surroundings. Often they are helped by an NGO.

Shanty town

An area of makeshift and unsanitary housing, often occupied by squatters (no legal right to occupy).

Socio-economic group

A group of people distinguished by employment, income and social characteristics such as education and family status.

Social deprivation

The degree to which an individual or an area is deprived of services, decent housing, adequate income and local employment.

Suburbanisation

The spread of low density, often detached or semi-detached, housing around the edges of a city or town.

Urbanisation

The process by which the increasing percentage of a country’s population lives in towns and cities.

Urban regeneration

The revival of old parts of the built-up area by either installing modern facilities in old buildings (known as renewal) or opting for redevelopment.