Urban
describing city living and populous areas
Babylon
city in Mesopotamia located near fresh water
Catal Huyuk
settlement in Turkey near fertile farmland, trees, and freshwater
Samarkand
city in Uzbekistan located along Silk Road trade routes
Damascus
city in Syria developed as a trading post between North Africa and the Middle East
Transportation nodes
settlements located along transportation intersections
“Situation”
examination of a place’s relative location and why certain locations are more conducive to growth and importance
Dispersed settlements
separated by distance but connected through long trade routes
Clustered settlements
infrastructure and buildings are all clustered together
Linear settlements
located along a natural resource
New Amsterdam
founded in 1624; its location was advantageous for ships
San Francisco
city valued for its proximity to the Pacific Ocean and natural resources in Northern California
Spatial analysis
inspection of how humans use space in organized settlements
Walter Christaller
German geographer who popularized the concept of central place theory
Central business district
a city’s focal point where exclusive goods and services are located
Hinterlands
regions that make up different market areas across a large urban settlement
Threshold
minimum number of consumers to sustain a business
Range
maximum distance people are willing to travel for goods and services
High order goods
goods purchased less frequently and require greater market area to provide threshold necessary
Low order goods
goods bought on a regular basis and daily essentials
Ernest Burgess
sociologist who studied North American urban development patterns in the early 20th century
Concentric
circular patterns
Peak land value intersection (PLVI)
zone of urban centers with the most exclusive and expensive real estate
High density housing units
developed around CBDs and industrial zones, making up the 3rd zone
Frederick Law Olmsted
designer in Chicago who advocated for the garden city movement
“Garden City” movement
movement for well-spaced, sizable homes with front lawns and backyards
Riverside, Illinois
city designed by Olmsted that became a center for prestigious homes
Homer Hoyt
proposed sector model to explain layout of North American cities
Industrial zones
second zone of the concentric model but in Hoyt’s model appeared to be more of a section
“Ethnic” neighborhoods
low-income residential communities in the 3rd level (working class zone)
Nuclei
centers of an urban municipality
Chauncy Harris
geographer who popularized the multiple nuclei theory
Larry Ford and Ernst Griffin
proposed Latin American city model in the 1980s and 90s
Plazas
an early form of a CBD in a Portuguese or Spanish colonial settlement
Law of the Indies (1592)
regulated set up of settlements; passed in 1592
“Zone of maturity”
area where reasonably wealthy people lived in European-style buildings
In situ
subsection outside city walls that housed Indigenous and mixed-race people
working-class families and townhouses
Peripheral zone
farmland and ranches
assembly plants and industry
Squatter camps
temporary housing areas where migrants ride while looking for work
Ciudad Juarez (Mexico)
city on Mexico-Texas border with an economy build on sweatshop labor
Maquiladoras
Mexican sweatshop plants
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
city where over half of residents live in favelas (squatter camps)
Favelas
Brazilian squatter camps
Colonias
Mexican squatter camps
Land tenure
granting legal recognition of land where squatter resident families reside
Suburb/suburban
residential communities or areas located outside of cities
Levittown, Long Island
housing area of suburban homes built from a simple model by Levitt & Sons
GI Bill
laws and programs for war veterans that helped with educational and economic opportunities
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae
companies with headquarters in edge cities of DC (Tyson’s Corner)
Edge cities
occur when suburbs grow their own central business districts
Lateral commuting
commuting from suburb to an edge city
Counter commuting
commuting from city to edge city or suburb
Interstate highway system
nationwide system of multi-lane highways crossing state lines and connecting major cities
Telecommuting
working from home
Sprawl
uncontrolled growth of built industrial environment
Cape Town
second largest city in South Africa; important refueling and trading station for European ships
Fall-line cities
developed with ports located upstream on rivers connected to coastal outlets
“Break-in-bulk” points
locations where ships were offloaded and then restocked
Gateway city
city where immigrants arrive and establish communities or use the city as a transition to other communities
Entrepot
coastal port cities where significant trade occurs
Megacities
cities with populations of over 10 million
Megalopolis
formed when two or more cities fuse together, forming a single population center
“First Order” world cities
cities home to powerful political, financial, and cultural institutionsin
Primate city
an urban center within a nation that acts as its main city in the absence of any others
Rank-size rule
in countries with long social histories, the 2nd largest city is about half the size of its largest city
Colonial cities
cities, which during decolonization, had increasing diversity but also inequality
“Free people of color” (Louisiana)
people born to a European father and African mother who could be granted freedom by their fathers
De jure segregation
official laws and rules for racial segregation
De facto segregation
based on historical and social realities
Redlining
limiting minorities from living in certain neighborhoods
Restrictive covenants
homeowners associations prevented certain minorities from buying homes in a neighborhood
Sequent occupancy
chronological succession of groups and cultures living in a place or region
Slang
informal and shortened language, often used casually
Gentrification
the refurbishment and development of a poorer urban area with the intent to make the area desirable
“Flippers”
people who buy real estate with the intention of renovating and reselling at a higher price
Section 8
program that provides rental assistance vouchers to low-income families
Property taxes
annual taxes paid by owners of private structures
Rent control
municipal government setting limits on how much private landlords can charge for rentals
Mixed-use buildings
areas with commercial and residential buildings