Unit 7: Services and Urbanization

Consumer Services

Services provided directly to individuals for personal use, rather than to businesses

Business Services

Services that primarily asset other businesses rather than individual consumers

Public Services

Services provided by the government to protect and improve people’s QOL

Clustered rural settlement

A pattern where houses and buildings are grouped closely together in a village or town, surrounded by farmland

Dispersed rural Settlement

A pattern where houses and buildings are spread out over a large area, with each household located on its own land

Economic bases

A settlement consists of the economic activities that generate income by expecting goods and services to areas outside the community

Enclosure movement

A region is the set of activities and services that generated income from outside the area (basic industries), along with those that support local needs

Urbanization

The process by which an increasing percentage of a population lives in cities and urban areas

Market area/hinterland

The geographic area surrounding a service from which it attracts customers

Rank-size-rule

States that the population of a city is inversely proportional to its rank in the urban hierarchy
2nd largest city is ½ the size of the largest
3rd largest city is 1/3 the size of the largest

Primate city

A city that is more than 2x as large as the next largest city in a country and dominates the country’s economic, political, and cultural life

Basic/non-basic business

Basic business: sells its products or services primarily to customers outside the local or a bringing new money into the local economy
Non-basic business: Sells its products or services primarily to local customers, circulating money already in the community

Central Business district (CBD)

The main commercial and economic center of a city, where businesses, offices, and financial institutions are concentrated

Consensus tracts

A small, relatively permanent statistical subdivision of a country used by the government to collect and analyze population data

Edge City

A large node of office buildings, shopping centers, and entertainment outside the traditional downtown (CBD)

Squatter/informal settlements

Areas where people build housing on land they do not legally own, often without basic services like water, electricity, or sanitation

Filtering

A process in which housing in a city gradually changes from higher-income households to lower-income households overtime, often as wealthier residents move out and poorer residents move in

Urban renewal

The process of redeveloping and improving areas of a city that are determining or underused, often involving demolition of old housing, and construction of new building, infrastructure, or public spaces

Public Housing

Government built and government-sub sized housing designated to provide affordable homes for low-income residents

Gentrification

The process in which wealthier people move into lower-income urban neighborhoods, often renovating homes and businesses, which raises property values and can displace long-time residents

Megacity vs Metacity

Metacity: 20 Million+ people
Megacity: 10 million or more people

Annexation

The legal process by which a city expands its boundaries to include adjacent land, bringing it under the city’s government and services

Redlining

A discriminatory practice in which banks/lenders refers to give mortgages or loans to people in certain neighborhoods, often based on race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status

Metropolitan statistical area

A region consisting of a central city with a large population and its surrounding communities that are socially and economically linked, usually through computing patterns

Micropolitan Statistical area

A region with an urban core of 10,000-49,999 people and its surrounding communities that are socially and economically linked, usually through commuting patterns

Density Gradient

The change in population density from the center of a city to the outskirts or suburbs. Typically density decreases as you move father from the city center

Sprawl

The unplanned, low density, and outward expansion of urban areas into surrounding rural land, often dominated by single-family homes, shopping centers, and roads

Green belt

An area of open land around a city where development is restricted to preserve natural landscapes, limit urban sprawl, and provide recreational space

Smart Growth/new urbanism

Smart growth: A planning approached encourages sustainable urban development, tourism compact, walkable communities, mixed use buildings, and efficient transportation

Zoning ordinances

Laws that regulate how land in a city can be used, dividing areas into areas for residential, commercial, industrial, or mixed use purposes