Unit 6 Cities and Urban Land Use

Flashcards for vocabulary review.

Basic Sector

Industries that sell their products or services primarily to consumers outside the settlement and serve as the core economic sector of a city.

Bid-Rent Theory

The theory that the price of real estate changes as you get further from the CBD, decreasing with distance from the central city.

Blockbusting

The historical process of introducing a minority family into an all-white neighborhood to drive real estate sales and movement.

Boomburbs

Rapidly growing suburban areas, also known as suburban boomtowns or edge cities, that have experienced significant population and economic growth in a short time.

Brownfields

Abandoned properties contaminated, or potentially contaminated, with hazardous pollutants and are seen as sites of potential revitalization.

Burgess Concentric Zone Model

Model of urban land use that organizes cities into a series of circular zones defined by their varying functions, with the last zone known as the commuter zone.

Central Business District (CBD)

The central part of the city, also known as the downtown, characterized by high interaction.

Central Place Theory

Theory that explains the distribution of services based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services.

City-State

A sovereign state comprising a city and its immediate hinterland, such as ancient Greek City-States.

Conurbation

An extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of one or more cities.

Counter Urbanization

The process when people move from urban to rural areas, often found in higher level countries due to a dislike of the pace of cities.

Economic Base

A community’s collection of basic industries.

Edge City

Suburban cities with independently functioning central business districts, an example of the multiple nuclei model.

Ethnic Enclave

A place populated by one ethnic group that is entirely surrounded by other residents of different groups, e.g., Chinatown and Little Havana.

Exurbs

Settlements located beyond the typically denser inner suburban areas with some economic and commuting connection to the nearby metropolitan area.

Favela

A Brazilian shantytown/squatter settlement that lacks adequate infrastructure.

Food Desert

An urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food.

Gentrification

The process by which older, run-down urban areas are restored by middle-class people who move back into a city from the suburbs, resulting in the displacement of lower-income residents.

Gravity Model

Social science model that examines the attractive factors between two places and concepts; people will gravitate towards larger cities.

Greenbelt

A boundary around a city for the purpose of limiting urban sprawl, forcing cities to develop internally instead of expanding outwardly.

High Density Housing

Residential developments that have a significantly higher number of housing units per acre.

Higher Order Good

A high-cost good or service that is purchased only occasionally.

Hoyt’s Sector Model

City model in which wedges are used to explain city growth, with the city developing along transportation routes.

Infrastructure

Refers to the set of facilities and systems that serve a country, city, or other area (e.g., roads, bridges, utilities, schools, parks).

Latin American City Model

In the center is the CBD, connected to a mall through a spine.

Low Density Housing

Residential developments characterized by fewer housing units per acre.

Lower Order Good

A low cost good or service that is bought frequently.

Market Area (Hinterland)

The area surrounding a central place from which people are attracted to use the place’s goods and services.

Megacity

City with a population of at least 10 million or more.

Megalopolis

A chain of roughly adjoining metropolitan areas.

Metacities

Cities with over 20 million people.

Metropolitan Area

A geographic area containing a densely populated urban core and less densely populated surrounding areas that are socioeconomically linked to the urban core.

Mixed Land Use Development

Range of land uses that are located together in a balanced mix, including residential development, shops, employment community and recreation facilities and parks and open space.

Multiple Nuclei Model

The main idea was that when a city reached a certain size its downtown central business district (CBD) could no longer serve the whole city

New Urbanism

Urban design movement that emphasizes creating walkable neighborhoods with a range of housing and job options, promoting environmentally friendly habits.

Non Basic Industries

Industries that sell their products primarily to consumers in the community.

Primate City

The largest settlement in a country, if it has more than twice as many people as the second ranking settlement.

Public Services

Services offered by the government to provide security and protection for citizens and businesses.

Racial Steering

Racial steering refers to the practice in which real estate brokers guide prospective home buyers towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race.

Range

The maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

Rank Size Rule

A pattern of settlements in a country such that the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.

Redlining

Redlining is the systematic denial of various services to residents of specific, often racially associated, neighborhoods or communities.

Service

Any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it.

Smart Growth

Smart growth is a way to build cities, towns, and neighborhoods that are economically prosperous, socially equitable, and environmentally sustainable.

South-East Asian City Model

Model that shows the growth and zones for major port cities in South East Asia.

Squatter Settlement

Any collection of buildings where the people have no legal rights to the land they are built upon.

Suburb

A smaller outlying urban area connected to a city, often more residential.

Sub-Saharan African City Model

Model based on cities in Sub-Saharan Africa in which the city has three urban CBD’s, including a colonial district.

Suburbanization

Growth of lower-density housing, industry, and commercial zones outside the central business district.

Threshold

The minimum number of people needed to support a service.

Urbanization

An increase in the percentage of the number of people living in urban settlements.

Urban Blight

Urban decay is the process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair.

Urban Realms Model

Model of urban land use developed in the 1970s that sought to describe the relationships within and among suburban cities around the fringes of a larger urban region.

Urban Sprawl

The spreading outward of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density areas and rural land.

World City

Serve as hubs for international business and trade, attracting multinational corporations, financial institutions, and top talent from around the world.

Zoning Ordinance

A law that limits the permitted uses of land and maximum density of development in a community.

Zone of Disamenity

Areas in the urban city where squatter settlements are often found. Areas that may lack basic amenities such electricity, running water, etc.