Unit 6 Gradesavers

Site

describes the characteristics at the immediate location

Situation

refers to the location of a place relative to its surroundings

Urbanization

the process of developing towns and cities

Suburbanization

the process of people moving, usually from cities, to residential areas on the outskirts of cities

Urban Sprawl

the rapid expansion of the spatial extent of a city

Urban Decentralization

movement of people and businesses away from the established city center toward the urban fringe

Edge City

node of economic activity that have developed in the periphery of large cities

Exurb

prosperous residential district beyond the suburbs

Boomburb

rapidly growing community, have a total population of over 100,000 people, and aren’t the largest city in a metro area

Megacities

have a population of more than 10 million people

Metacities

have a population of more than 20 million people

Megalopolis

describes a chain of connected cities

World City

cities that exert influence beyond their national boundaries

Urban Hierarchy

ranking of cities based on influence and population size

Rank-Size Rule

describes one way in which the sizes of cities within a region may develop, stating that the nth largest city in any region will be 1/n the size of the largest city

Primate City

city that’s the largest in its country, province, state, or region, and disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy

Gravity Model

states that larger and closer places will have more interactions than places that are smaller and farther from each other

Christaller’s Central Place Theory

explains the distribution of cities of different sizes across a region

Central Business District

the commercial heart of a city

Burgess’ Concentric Zone Model

describes a city as a series of rings that surrounds a CBD

Hoyt Sector Model

describes how different types of land use and housing were all located near the CBD early in a city’s history

Harris and Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model

suggested that functional zonation occured around multiple centers, or nodes

Galactic City Model

In this model, an original CBD became surrounded by a system of smaller nodes that mimicked its function

Latin American City Model

Places a 2 part CBD at the center of the city, a traditional market center adjacent to a modern high-rise center. The most desirable housing is located there, next to the developed center of the city

Southeast Asian City Model

The focus of the modern city is often a former colonial port zone. These cities might have a government zone or a commercial zone dominated by foreign merchants and ambassadors

African City Model

generalized diagram of an urban area that contains a European colonial CBD, a traditional CBD, and an informal economy zone.

Periférico

the outer ring of the Latin American city model, which shows poverty, lack of infrastructure, and areas of poorly built housing

Infilling

the process of increasing the residential density of an area by replacing open space and vacant housing with residences

Urban Planning

process of promoting growth and controlling change in land-use

Filtering

process in which houses pass from one social group to another

Infrastructure

facilities and systems that serve the population

Municipality

a local entity that’s all under the same jurisdiction

Mixed-Land Use

combines residential, commercial, cultural, or institutional functions into a building, block, or neighborhood

Urban Walkability

capacity of the built environment to promote walking

Transportation-Oriented Development

locates the mixed use residential and business communities near mass transit shops, resulting in more compact communities, which decreases the need for automobiles

Smart-Growth Policies

combat urban sprawl and create a new vision for cities that are more sustainable and equitable

Sustainable Design Initiatives

reduce negative impacts on the environment, and the health and comfort of building occupants, thereby improving building performance

Sustainable Design Zoning

integrate building form and public street design considerations with transportation options

Greenbelts

areas of undeveloped land around an urban area to limit a city’s growth and preserve farmland

New Urbanism

seeks to encourage local community development and sustainable growth in an urban area

Slow-Growth Cities

adopt policies to slow the outward spread of urban areas and place limits on building permits in order to encourage a denser, more compact city.

De Facto Segregation

segregation that results from residential settlement patterns rather than from prejudicial laws

Quantitative Data

information that be counted, measured, or sequenced by numeric value

Qualitative Data

based primarily on surveys, field studies, photos, videos, and interviews from people who provide personal perceptions and meaningful descriptions

Census Data

specific information about people such as population, race, etc.

Housing Discrimination

illegal practice of denying an individual or group of people the right to buy or rent a home based on religion, race, sex, etc.

Redlining

process by which banks refuse loans to those who want to purchase and improve properties in certain urban areas

Blockbusting

when people of an ethnic group sold their homes upon learning that members of another ethnic group were moving into the neighborhood

Housing Affordability

housing units that are affordable by that section of socity

Environmental Injustice

used to describe how communities of color and the poor are more likely to be exposed to environmental burdens such as air pollution or contaminated water

Disamenity Zone

poorest parts of cities that in extreme cases aren’t even connected to city services

Zone of Abandonment

areas of a city that have been deserted by their owners for either economic or environmental reasons

Squatter Settlements

densely populated areas built without coordinated planning and without sufficient public services for electricity and water

Land Tenure

legal protection of contracts to show ownership of land or structures

Inclusionary Zoning

offer incentives for developers to set aside a percentage of housing for low income renters or buyers

Urban Renewal

policy that allowed governments to clear out the blighted inner-city slums, which usually displaced the residents to low-income government housing complexes, and built new development processes

Gentrification

process of converting an urban inner-city neighborhood from a mostly low-income, center-occupied area to a predominately wealthier, owner-occupied area of a city

Urban Sustainability

ability of a city or urban area to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Ecological Footprint

the impact of human activity on the environment

Suburban Sprawl

the rapid spread of development outward from the inner city

Urban Canyons

streets lined with tall buildings, can channel and intensify wind, and prevent sunlight from reaching the ground

Urban Heat Island

an area of a city warmer than surrounding cities and suburbs

Brownfields

abandoned and polluted industrial sites (factories) in central cities and suburbs; they consist of dilapidated buildings and polluted or contaminated soils

Urban Redevelopment

process that involves renovating a site within a city by removing the existing landscape and rebuilding from the ground up