Urban Geography Vocabulary

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms and definitions related to urban geography for exam preparation.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS)

The process of capturing waste CO₂, transporting it to a storage site, and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere, normally underground.

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 retail and office activities are clustered.

Central city

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

Combined statistical area (CSA)

In the United States, two or more contiguous CBSAs 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, any MSA or μSA.

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

A process of change in the use of a house, from single-family owner occupancy to abandonment.

Gentrification

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

Informal settlement

An area within a city in a less developed country in which people illegally establish residences on land they do not own or rent and erect homemade structures.

Megalopolis

A continuous urban complex 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

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 multiple nodes.

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.

Primary census area (PSA)

In the United States, any CSA, any MSA not included in a CSA, or any μSA not included in a CSA.

Public housing

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

Redlining

A process by which financial institutions draw red-colored lines on a map and refuse to lend money for people to purchase or improve property within the lines.

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

Legislation and regulations to limit suburban sprawl and preserve farmland.

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.

Sustainable development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Underclass

A group in society prevented from participating in the material benefits of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic characteristics.

Urban area

A central city and its surrounding built-up suburbs.

Urban cluster

In the United States, an urban area with between 2,500 and 50,000 inhabitants.

Urbanized area

In the United States, an urban area 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.