APHUG Unit 6

Urbanization

The movement of people from rural areas to cities

What factors contributed to the establishment of the first cities

1. Agricultural surplus- crop yields that are sufficient to feed more people than the farmers and his/her family needs

2. Socioeconomic stratification- structuring of society into distinct socioeconomic classes

The first cities were Mesopotamia and the Nile River Valley

Site

An absolute location of a place on earth (physical features)

Situation

Relative location of a place in reference to its surrounding features

Rural to urban migration

Urban growth comes from migration from rural areas and natural population increase

Capitalism

Economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit

Communism

Economic and political system in which all property is publicly owned and managed

Significance of transportation and communication evolution on cities

Both shape and reshape cities

First and Second Urban Revolutions

First- the shift from agricultural villages to urban cities

Second- the industrial innovations in mining and manufacturing that led to increased urban growth

Redevelopment

Set of active ties intended to revitalize an area that has fallen on hard times

Urban hierarchy

A ranking of cities, with the largest and most powerful at the top of the hierarchy

Urbanization rate

The percentage of a nation’s population living in towns and cities

Suburbanization

Movement of people from urban core to surrounding outskirts of a city

Causes- White Flight and Industrial Decentralization

Impact- Sprawl and Automobile cities

Edge cities

A concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment that developed in the suburbs

Boomburbs

A place with more than 100k residents that is not in a core city in a metro area

Exurbs

A semi rural district located beyond the suburbs that is often inhabited by well-to-do families

World city

A city that is a control center for the global economy; major decisions are made at the world’s commercial networks and financial markets

Traits- international financial services, organizations, and cultural meccas

Rank Size Rule

The population of a settlement is inversely proportional to its rank in the urban hierarchy

Primate City

A city that is much larger than any other city in the country and that dominated the country’s economic, political, and cultural life

Central Place Theory

A model that attempts to understand why cities are located where they are

Threshold- the number of people required to support a business

Range- the distance people will travel to acquire a good

Burgess Concentric Zone Model

Based on relationship between socioeconomic status of households and distance from the CBD

Hoyt Sector Model

A model of a city’s internal organization; focused on transportation and communication as the drivers of a city’s layout

Ullman/Harris Multiple Nuclei Model

Model of a city’s internal organization showing residential districts organized around several nodes (nuclei) rather than a CBD

Galactic City Model

Model of a city’s internal organization in which the CBD remains central, but multiple shopping districts office parks, and industrial districts are scattered throughout suburbs and linked by metro expressways

Griffin/Ford Latin American City Model

Combination of concentric zine and radial sectors

Southeast Asian City Model

Focal point not the CBD, but old colonial port zone/surrounding commercial zones

Sub Saharan African City Model

3 CBDs and mixed ethnic and residential neighborhoods with outer ring shantytowns

Perceived Density

The general impression of the estimated number of people in an area

Zoning regulations

Local laws that designate land for specific uses

Infill development

The building of new retail, business, or residential spaces on vacant or underused land in a developed area

White flight

The mid 20th century, large scale migration of white residents from racially diversifying U.S. cities to suburban areas

Fiscal Squeeze

Occurs when city revenues cannot keep up with increasing demands for city services and expenditure ps on decaying infrastructure

Built environment

The human made space in which people love, work, and engage in leisure time

Smart Growth

Policies that combat regional sprawl by addressing issues of population density and transportation

New Urbanism

Approach to city planning that focuses on Euro style of dense settlements, attractive architecture, and different housing styles and prices; walkable

10 principles-

• Walkability

• Connectivity

• Mixed use and diverse

• Diverse housing

• Quality architecture and urban design

• Traditional neighborhood structure

• Increased density

• Smart transportation

• Sustainability

• Quality of life

Positives- higher quality of life, may extend life expectancy, less air pollution, limiting sprawl

Negatives- property values could decrease, decrease in affordable housing, HOAAs, existing communities will be disrupted, anti deplacement tenant activists, de facto segregation

Greenbelt

A zone of grassy, forested, or agricultural land separating urban areas

Zoning

The classification of land according to restrictions on its use and development

Slow Growth City

A city that changes its zoning laws to decrease the rate at which the city spreads horizontally, avoids negative effects of sprawl

Challenges to Urban Changes

Mortgage- people qualifying for mortgages way above their income

Redlining- government banks outlining minority neighborhoods as dangerous for giving out loans

Blockbusting- agents stoked fear into white clients, causing them to sell their houses for cheap, and then agents resold those houses for higher prices for minorities

Crime- lots of violent crime

Environmental concerns- environmental injustice and racism

Squatter Settlements

Favelas and slums

Inclusionary Zone

Planning ordinances that require builders to make low to medium income housing

Exclusionary Zone

Attempts to keep low to medium income people out of the neighborhood

NIMBY

Not In My BackYard

Gentrification

Middle and high income white residents move into minority neighborhoods, changing the social and economic aspects

Ecological footprint

Measures the global total productive land/water area required to support humans

Urban heat island

Mass of warm air in cities started by buildings and then people

Urban footprint

Calculates the ecological footprint demand

Urban Risk Divide

The uneven distribution of vulnerability to environmental, social, and economic hazards within cities

Brownfield

Properties whose use or development may be compromised by the use of harmful chemicals

Brownfield remediation

Process of removing and closing off the site to help restore it in the future

Farmland Protection Policy

Government-led initiatives designed to preserve agricultural land from urban sprawl, industrial development, and conversion to non-agricultural uses

Scatter developments

Low-income, government-funded units are dispersed throughout a city rather than concentrated in clusters