Ch. 13 Vocabulary

Annexation

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

Census tract

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

Central business district (CBD)

The area of a city where business, consumer, and public services are clustered.

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.

Core-based statistical area (CBSA)

In the United States, the collection of all metropolitan statistical areas and micropolitan statistical areas.

Density gradient

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

Edge city

Node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area.

Galactic (or peripheral) model

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

Gentrification

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

Informal settlement

An area within a city in a developing country 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.

Megalopolis

A continuous urban complex, such as in the northeastern United States.

Metropolitan statistical area (MSA)

In the United States, an urbanized area of at least 50,000 population, the county within which the city is located, and adjacent counties meeting one of several tests indicating a functional connection to the central city.

Micropolitan statistical area (μSA)

An urbanized area of between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, the county in which it is located, 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.

Municipality (or incorporated place or central city)

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

Rush hour

The four consecutive 15-minute periods in the morning and evening with the heaviest volumes of traffic.

Sector model

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a series of sectors, or wedges, radiating out from the central business district.

Smart growth

An approach to expanding urban areas in a manner that protects rural land for agriculture, recreation, and wildlife, by following ten development principles, including a mix of residential and commercial uses, a range of housing types, walkable neighborhoods, and compact design.

Social area analysis

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

Sprawl

Development of new housing sites at relatively low density and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area.

Suburb

A residential or commercial area situated within an urban area but outside the central city.

Urban area

A term to describe a central city in the United States and its surrounding built-up suburbs.

Urban cluster

A term no longer used to describe an urban area in the United States with between 2,500 and 50,000 inhabitants.

Urban growth boundary

Delineation of a boundary around an urban area within which new development must occur.

Urbanized area

A term no longer used to describe an urban area in the United States with at least 50,000 inhabitants.

Zoning ordinance

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