Comprehensive Urban Geography and City Models for Students

Urban Sprawl

When a city spreads out into nearby rural areas, creating more neighborhoods, roads, and businesses over a large area

Exburbs

Low-density housing beyond suburbs, where residents live farther out and commute long distances to the city

Transit-Oriented Development

When residential and commercial areas are built around public transit hubs

Government Fragmentation

When federal, state, regional, and local agencies have conflicting goals

Multiple-Nuclei Model

Posits that a city does not have one single center, but several nodes

Limitations of Galactic City Model

Becoming more obsolete with the rise of the internet, diminishing the importance of beltways connecting edge cities.

Smart-Growth

Policies aimed at discouraging sprawl and encouraging sustainable, efficient urban development.

Suburbanization

The movement of people from city center to surrounding suburbs

Edge cities

Large business and retail hubs on the city outskirts, outside the CBD, near highways

Megacity

A city with a population of more than 10 million people

Burgess Concentric Zone Model

Suggests a city grows outward from a central area in a series of concentric rings

Southeast Asian Model

Not organized by a CBD but by water-based trading ports established by former imperial powers.

Boom burbs

Rapidly growing suburbs with large population and strong economies, functioning like independent cities

Urban decentralization

When people and businesses move away from the urban core

Urban Hierarchy

A system that ranks cities based on their economic and cultural significance

Metacity

Any city with a population of more than 20 million people

Linkage

Connection between places that involve the movement of people, goods, information, or ideas

Rank-size rule

States that the second-largest city in a state has about half the population of the largest, and so on

Primate City

When one city dominates the country, with a population at least twice the size of the next largest city

Gravity Model

Predicts interaction between two places based on their population sizes and the distance between them

Christaller's Central Place Theory

Explains distribution of settlements based on range and threshold concepts (suggests that cities act as "central places" providing services to surrounding areas)

Smart Growth Policies

Directing development into areas that are already built up

Greenbelts

A ring of protected green space around a city that development cannot push into

Slow-Growth Cities

Cities that intentionally limit how fast they grow through caps on building permits

De Facto Segregation

The separation of people along racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic lines

Gentrification

When wealthier residents move into lower-income neighborhoods, raising property values

Bid-rent Theory

Land is most expensive in the central business district and decreases in cost further away

Hoyt Sector Model

Suggests that as a city grows, activities expand outward in a wedge shape from the center

Galactic City Model

A modern adaptation reflecting suburbanization and the influence of automobiles.

Latin American City Model

Features a central CBD with a prominent 'spine' based on the structure of Mexico City.

Residential Quality in Latin American Model

Decreases as you move further away from the city center.

Squatter Settlements

Informal housing areas on the periphery of the city occupied by migrants who cannot afford high-cost land.

Sub-Saharan African Model

Predicts the internal structure of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa with three CBDs.

Christaller's Central Place Theory

States that people congregate around a central point (node) where goods and services are offered.

Central Business District (CBD)

The central place where everything happens, typically with higher living costs.

Urbanization

The process that initiates and drives the growth of cities.

Metropolitan Area

A city and surrounding areas influenced economically and culturally by that city.

Space-Time Compression

The reduction in perceived distance between places due to advancements in technology and communication.

Edge City

A node of consumer and business services located on the periphery of an urban area.

Boomburg

A rapidly growing suburban city that has the population of a large city but retains a suburban character.

Exurb

A prosperous residential area outside the suburbs.

Infilling

The development of vacant or underused parcels within existing urban areas to reduce sprawl.

World (Global) City

A city that acts as a major center for international trade, specialized services, and transnational organizations.

Zoning

The process of dividing an urban area into zones where only certain land uses are permitted.

Urban Blight

The deterioration of a city's physical environment.

Redlining

A discriminatory practice where banks refuse loans to people in certain 'risky' neighborhoods.

Mixed-Use Development (MUD)

Urban design that blends residential, commercial, and cultural uses to minimize commute distances.

Greenbelt

A ring of land maintained as parks, agriculture, or other open space to limit urban sprawl.

Brownfield

A property whose expansion or redevelopment may be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance.

Urban Growth Boundaries

Geographic boundaries placed around a city to limit outward expansion and protect farmland.

threshold

the minimum market needed to support a service

Range

the maximum distance people are willing to travel for it

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