AP Hug Unit 6 Vocab Urbanization

Urban Morphology

Study of urban forms, how they form, and attempts to understand their spatial structure

City

Clusters of buildings and people together to serve as a center of politics, cultures and economies

Urban

Entire, built-up, non-rural area and its population, including the most recently constructed suburban appendages

Social Stratification

One or two components, together with an agricultural surplus, which enables the formation of cities

Site

Internal physical attributes of a place, including its ABSOLUTE location, it’s spatial character and physical setting

*cannot change

Situation

The external location attributes of a place; it’s RELATIVE location or regional position with reference to other non-local places

*can change

Megacities

An urban area with the population exceeding 10 million people

*Example - Tokyo, Seoul

Metacities

Network of urban areas that have grown together to form a larger interconnected urban system/continuous urban area with a population greater than 20 million people

Exurb’s

The properous residential district beyond the suburbs

Rank - Size Rule

Describes one way in which the sizes of cities within a region may develop. Population of the city or town will be proportional to the rank in the hierarchy. (biggest most high rank has highest population, less important cities have lowered decrease in size populations.)

Central Place Theory

In any given region, there can be one large central city, which is surrounded by a series of smaller cities towns, and hamlets

Threshold

The size of a population necessary for any particular service to exist and remain profitable

Range

The distance that people are to travel for goods and services

Primate city

A city that functions as by far the largest city in the country it in habits.

Example-Bangkok, Thailand

Functional Zonation

The idea that portions of an urban areas-regions or zones within the city-have specific and distant purposes

CBD

Central Business District - where a large amount of business are located

Suburbs

In area on the outside of big cities and towns where people live

Concentric Zone Model

Describes a city has a series of rings that surrounds a central business district, also known as as the Burgess Model

Edge Cities

Sub urban areas located on the preference of a major urban center. Large suburban residential in businesses.

Urban Realm Model

Explains and predict changing urban growth as the automobile became increasingly prevalent and large suburban “realms” emerged (explains the distribution of cites of different sizes across a region)

Griffin-Ford Model

Develop by geographers to explain the patterns in Latin American cities. A city is divided into distant zones: elite residential, middle class housing, low-income neighborhoods

Galactic City Model

A concept that describes the entire continental U.S. as a type of Urban area that extends along the interstates and their exits.

Disamenity Sector

Refers to a poor, marginalized area within a city, often characterized by informal housing, lacking access to basic amenities and services

McGee Model

Describes the land use of many large cities in Southeast Asia, where the focus of the modern city is often a former colonial port zone

Shanytowns

Areas of poorly built homes, on the outskirts of town

Zoning Laws

regulations that dictate how land can be used in specific areas, determining what types of buildings and activities are permitted within a particular zone

Redlining

The 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 are moving into the neighborhood

Commercialization

the process of transforming a product, service, or activity into something that is actively marketed and sold for profit on a larger scale

Gentrification

Process of converting an urban inner city neighborhood from a most low income, renter occupied area to a predominantly wealthier, owner occupied area of the city

McMansions

Homes referred to as such because of their "super size" and similarity in appearance to other such homes; homes often built in place of tear-downs in American suburbs.

Urban Sprawl

the uncontrolled expansion of urban areas.

New Urbanism

development, urban revitalization, and suburban reforms that create walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs

Gated Community

fenced-in neighborhoods with controlled access gates for people and automobiles

World City

Centers of economic, culture, and political activity that are strongly interconnected and together control the global systems of finance and commerce.

Counter-Urbanization

A demographic and social process in which people move from urban areas to rural areas

Planned-Communities

any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed in a previously undeveloped area

Squatter 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

Boomberg

rapidly growing communities that have a total population over 100,000 people

Economic Reach

the maximum distance people can be from a central place and still be attracted to it of business purposes

BrownFeilds

abandoned polluted industrial sites in central cities, many of which are today being cleaned and redeveloped