PLAN 1010 Urban Planning Terms: Study Glossary

Practice vocabulary flashcards for 135 urban planning terms, definitions, and case studies.

Permeability (of streets and neighborhoods)

How easily people can move through an area using many connected routes rather than being blocked by dead ends or superblocks; Leiden illustrates compact, connected, walkable street patterns.

Legibility (of urban landscape)

How easily people can understand and navigate a city using recognizable paths, districts, nodes, edges, and landmarks to make wayfinding easier.

Third Places

Informal social places outside home and work, such as cafés, libraries, parks, and plazas, where people can meet and build community.

Mixed-Uses

Combining homes, shops, jobs, services, and recreation close together so people can meet daily needs without long trips.

Adaptive Reuse

Giving an existing building a new use instead of demolishing it to save materials, preserve history, and allow neighborhoods to evolve; identified in the Leiden slides as a key city-building strategy.

Urban Sprawl

Low-density, spread-out development that consumes land faster than population grows and often requires driving for most trips, leading to farmland loss, car dependence, and environmental costs.

Folded Map Project

Artist Tatyana Fazlalizadeh's project that pairs people who live in different parts of the same city—often with different racial and economic experiences—to explore how segregation shapes perceptions and daily lives.

Shrinking Cities

Cities losing population, jobs, or industry, which can leave vacant buildings and lots that planning can repurpose for parks, gardens, food production, or other community uses.

Home GR/OWN (Milwaukee)

A Milwaukee initiative that turns vacant city-owned lots into productive community assets, including gardens, urban agriculture, and neighborhood green spaces to improve local food access.

Walking School Bus / Bike Bus

A group of children walking or cycling to school together along a planned route under adult supervision, making school travel safer, more social, and reducing car trips.

Housing Wage (Out of Reach Study)

The hourly wage a full-time worker would need to earn to afford a modest rental home without spending an excessive share of income on housing, highlighting the gap between wages and rents.

Farm Zero, Chicago

A project name included in the course term list connected to urban food and green infrastructure, noted as lacking slide text detail regarding its specific design or outcomes.

Kampung Admiralty (Singapore)

A mixed-use, high-density development by WOHA that stacks housing for older adults with community, health, retail, and green spaces into one compact building.

Spanish Laws of the Indies

Spanish colonial rules for founding towns in the Americas that prescribed an orderly grid, a central plaza, and the placement of civic and religious buildings, associated with St. Augustine and Santa Fe.

1899 Building Height Act (Washington, DC)

Federal law limiting building heights in Washington, DC, to no taller than the width of the street plus $20\,\text{feet}$, helping preserve the capital's low skyline.

Cairo Building

A 12-story Washington, DC building completed in 1894 that became a symbol in debates about tall buildings and prompted the city to adopt building height limits.

Dumbbell Tenements

Narrow New York City apartment buildings with a dumbbell-shaped floor plan intended to provide light and air through small side airshafts, though crowded rooms and poor ventilation remained problems.

Hull House and Jane Addams

A Chicago settlement house co-founded by Jane Addams in 1889 that offered education, childcare, and community programs for immigrants and working-class residents to advance social reform.

City Beautiful Movement

Late-19th- and early-20th-century planning movement that used monumental buildings, civic centers, parks, and grand boulevards to make cities orderly and beautiful to encourage civic pride and social improvement.

Ebenezer Howard and Garden Cities

Howard's proposal for self-contained, planned communities surrounded by permanent greenbelts, combining the benefits of city and country while avoiding overcrowding and uncontrolled sprawl.

The Equitable Building (1913)

A large New York City office building whose bulk and height blocked sunlight and views at street level, intensifying public pressure for zoning and building-envelope controls.

1916 Zoning Resolution (NYC)

New York City's first comprehensive zoning resolution, which regulated building height and bulk through setback rules and designated specific geographic areas for different uses.

Levittown

Mass-produced suburban housing developments built after World War II that made homeownership accessible to many white households while excluding Black buyers through discriminatory practices.

Restrictive Covenants (Racial Covenants)

Deed clauses prohibiting selling or renting homes to people of specified races or ethnicities, especially Black people; ruled judicially unenforceable in Shelley v. Kraemer (1948).

Redlining and the HOLC

The practice of grading and mapping neighborhoods by perceived mortgage risk where areas with Black residents were marked hazardous, institutionalized by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation to restrict credit in communities of color.

Willis Carrier

Engineer who developed modern mechanical air conditioning, which made sealed glass buildings and hot-climate urban growth feasible while increasing energy use.

Interstate Highway Act of 1956

Federal law funding a national highway system that enabled suburban growth but displaced residents, divided neighborhoods, and contributed to the decline of urban transit systems.

Urban Renewal

Government-backed redevelopment that cleared areas labeled blighted for highways, institutions, or new development, disproportionately displacing Black communities and damaging social networks.

Vinegar Hill (Charlottesville)

A historically Black Charlottesville neighborhood demolished through urban renewal in the 1960s, displacing residents and businesses and deepening racial and economic inequality.

Jane Jacobs

Urbanist and author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities who defended mixed uses, short blocks, dense diverse neighborhoods, and 'eyes on the street' to make streets safer.

Border Vacuums

Large, single-use edges such as highways, rail yards, or waterfront infrastructure that create barriers, reduce activity in nearby streets, and weaken neighborhood connections.

Robert Moses

Powerful New York-area public-works planner whose car-focused highways, bridges, and infrastructure projects displaced residents, divided neighborhoods, and prompted criticism from Jane Jacobs.

Density (vs. Overcrowding)

Density refers to the number of people or homes in an area, whereas overcrowding occurs when space or services are insufficient; density does not automatically mean overcrowding and supports transit and walkability.

Barcelona’s Superblocks

Grouping several city blocks into larger units where through-traffic is restricted and interior streets are reclaimed for walking, cycling, trees, play, and public life to reduce pollution.

Walk Score

A score estimating how many everyday destinations—such as shops, schools, and services—can be reached on foot, with higher scores associated with higher home values in many markets.

The High Line

A New York City elevated linear park built on a former freight railway that reused obsolete infrastructure as public green space and catalyzed nearby redevelopment.

Salesforce Park (San Francisco)

A public rooftop park built on the Salesforce Transit Center in San Francisco featuring roughly $600$ trees, $16{,}000$ plants, and $13$ mini-ecosystems.

11th Street Bridge Park (Washington, DC)

A proposed public park and civic space designed by OMA and OLIN on reused bridge infrastructure over the Anacostia River to connect neighborhoods while planning around equitable development.

Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)

A policy allowing development capacity to be transferred from preservation zones to designated growth areas, used in Montgomery County, Maryland, to conserve farmland and open space.

Portland, Oregon

A model of compact-growth planning featuring a regional urban growth boundary, MAX light rail, downtown plans, farm and forest protection, green streets, green roofs, and civic spaces like Pioneer Courthouse Square.

Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs)

Designated lines surrounding an urban area that limit outward expansion, promote compact development within the boundary, and safeguard surrounding agricultural and natural areas.

Upzoning

Altering zoning regulations to permit more homes, greater height, or a wider variety of development types on a parcel of land to make housing supply more flexible.

Infill Development

Constructing buildings on vacant or underutilized parcels within an existing developed community rather than expanding outward into undeveloped land.

Brownfields, Greyfields, and Greenfields

Brownfields are previously developed and potentially contaminated lands; greyfields are obsolete commercial or shopping sites; greenfields are undeveloped agricultural or natural open lands.

Gentle Density

Adding modest forms of housing—such as duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and small apartment buildings—within established residential neighborhoods.

Toronto

A city used to illustrate debates over 'gentle density' and community resistance termed 'density creep' while attempting to incorporate missing housing types and preserve green spaces.

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)

Small secondary homes situated on the same parcel as a primary residence, including backyard cottages, garage apartments, or basement suites, which support multigenerational living.

Charlottesville’s FLUM (Future Land Use Map)

A municipal planning map illustrating envisioned future land uses and development intensities, ranging from low-density residential lots to mixed-use and multi-family structures.

Role of Weak and Strong Ties

Granovetter's theory noting strong ties are close relationships, whereas weak ties (casual acquaintances) provide critical bridges for discovering employment opportunities in public spaces.

Boulder, Colorado

A city known for compact growth management using city-county agreements, urban service limits, dedicated sales tax for open space preservation, greenbelts, and large-lot outlying zoning.

Vancouver, British Columbia

A city illustrating high-density, compact, transit-oriented development and high-rise residential towers designed to promote walking and public transit usage.

EcoDensity

A Vancouver planning policy that explicitly aligns urban density with environmental sustainability, green building, energy efficiency, transit access, and neighborhood livability.

Copenhagen, Denmark

A model cycling city where approximately $50\%$ of trips occur by bicycle, supported by separated bike lanes, a pro-bike culture, and policies discouraging car use.

The 100 Year Life

A planning concept centered on designing flexible, accessible homes and supportive communities to accommodate longer human lifespans and changing needs.

15-Minute City

An urban model where residents can reach daily destinations—such as grocery stores, schools, healthcare, and parks—within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.

The Not So Big House (Sarah Susanka)

A residential design philosophy advocating for smaller, well-crafted homes tailored to everyday living rather than large houses with excess, unused square footage.

Quinta Monroy (Alejandro Aravena)

An incremental housing project in Iquique, Chile, by Elemental that constructed the difficult half of each house first, allowing families to self-expand the rest over time.

Accessory Dwelling Units / Granny Flats

A secondary, independent residential unit located on the same parcel as a primary dwelling, providing housing for relatives, caregivers, or renters without large developments.

Ageing in Place

The ability of individuals to live safely and comfortably in their own homes and established communities as they grow older through supportive services and accessible design.

Granny Pods

Small, often prefabricated residential units placed in backyards to house aging family members near their relatives while maintaining personal autonomy.

Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs)

Neighborhoods or housing developments not originally planned for senior living that have evolved to house a high concentration of older residents, facilitating targeted on-site services.

Beacon Hill Village

A Boston-based membership organization that pioneered the 'village' model of aging in place by providing coordinated volunteer services, daily assistance, and social programs.

Form-Based Codes

Land development regulations that prioritize physical form, building placement, frontage, and street relationships over the rigid separation of land uses, as seen on Columbia Pike.

Adaptive Reuse

Reusing an existing structure for a new function—such as transforming a church into a bookstore or an office building into apartments—to conserve materials and preserve neighborhood character.

Visual Preference Surveys (VPS)

A participatory planning method where citizens evaluate and score images of buildings, streets, and landscape forms to indicate community design preferences.

Inclusionary Housing Requirements (‘Inclusionary Zoning’)

Policies requiring or incentivizing private developers to set aside a designated percentage of below-market-rate affordable units in new housing projects or pay an in-lieu fee.

Missing Middle Housing

A range of multi-unit or clustered housing types compatible in scale with single-family houses, such as duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and courtyard apartments.

NYC Local Law 18

A New York City law restricting short-term rentals by requiring hosts to register with the city and remain physically present during guest stays to preserve permanent housing.

NYC’s ‘City of Yes’

A New York City zoning initiative modernizing land-use rules to facilitate housing development across all neighborhoods and support green building and business growth.

Community Land Trust

A nonprofit stewardship entity that owns land in perpetuity to ensure community benefit, while allowing residents to purchase or lease the structures on top at affordable rates.

Manufactured Housing

Homes constructed off-site in factory environments and transported to residential parcels, reducing construction time and costs subject to land and zoning parameters.

Boxabl

A modular construction company producing compact, factory-manufactured housing units engineered for rapid transport and on-site assembly.

Mass Timber (Heartwood, Seattle; PAE Building, Portland)

Engineered wood building systems, such as cross-laminated timber or glulam, that sequester carbon and offer sustainable alternatives to concrete and structural steel.

Courtyard/Communal Housing (Dutch hofjes)

Residential developments organized around a shared courtyard or communal garden, exemplified historically by Dutch hofjes to encourage social contact among neighbors.

Pocket Neighborhoods; Cottage Housing

Small clusters of compact homes gathered around a shared pedestrian courtyard, greenway, or garden, blending private living with close neighbor interactions.

Cohousing (Bakken, Trudeslund, NyLand)

Intentional communities consisting of private residences paired with extensive shared facilities, including a common house, kitchen, and gardens, cooperatively managed by residents.

Village Homes (Davis, California)

An ecologically designed neighborhood planned around walking paths, shared greenways, community agriculture, and natural bioswales for open stormwater management.

New Urbanism (Kentlands, Celebration)

An urban design movement advocating for walkable streets, human-scale blocks, mixed uses, and civic centers, as exemplified by Kentlands, Maryland, and Celebration, Florida.

Highway Caps (or Lids)

Parks or civic platforms constructed across depressed highways to stitch severed urban neighborhoods together, suppress highway noise, and add green space.

Freeway Park (Seattle)

A pioneering freeway lid park built over Interstate 5 in downtown Seattle that uses concrete planted terraces, waterfalls, and plazas to reconnect severed urban districts.

Cheonggyecheon River (Seoul)

An urban daylighting project in Seoul that removed an elevated highway to restore a natural stream corridor with walking trails, cooling the area and restoring urban nature.

High Cost of Free Parking (Donald Shoup)

The thesis by Donald Shoup arguing that free parking conceals significant economic and land-use costs, which distorts planning, subsidizes driving, and wastes urban land.

Ultra Small Vehicles (USVs)

Very small, lightweight urban transport vehicles designed to consume far less roadway space, energy, and parking footprint than standard passenger vehicles.

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT)

A high-capacity bus transit system providing rail-like speeds via dedicated rights-of-way, transit signal priority, platform-level boarding, and off-board ticketing.

Trackless Trams

High-capacity, rubber-tired transit vehicles that navigate along planned roadway corridors using optical or electronic guidance systems instead of physical steel tracks.

Tap-and-Pay Systems (NYC)

Contactless fare payment systems allowing transit riders to tap debit cards, smartphones, or transit cards directly at readers to streamline boarding.

Free Buses

Public bus services operating without fare collection at the point of access to accelerate passenger boarding and expand equitable transportation mobility.

Complete Streets

Roadways engineered to provide safe, comfortable transit access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and drivers of all ages and abilities.

Road Diet

The reduction or narrowing of travel lanes on a roadway, reallocating excess asphalt toward wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, medians, or street trees to calm traffic.

School Streets

Temporary or permanent street closures surrounding school facilities during student arrival and departure hours to provide safe, calm spaces for children.

Congestion Pricing

A user fee charged to motor vehicles entering congested urban centers during peak travel hours to reduce vehicular delay, curb emissions, and fund public transit.

Roundabouts

Circular roadway intersections where approaching vehicles yield to circulating traffic, using curved geometry to reduce speed and eliminate severe right-angle collisions.

Tactical Urbanism

Low-cost, short-term, and community-driven streetscape interventions, such as paint, planter boxes, or pop-up plazas, used to test design concepts before permanent implementation.

Naked Streets and Intersections

Street layouts that remove road signs, signals, and kerbs to encourage drivers and pedestrians to negotiate right-of-way through natural eye contact and lower speeds.

Intersection Repair

A community-led intervention that transforms standard street intersections into neighborhood gathering squares using street murals, planters, and public seating.

Build a Better Block

A community demonstration project that temporarily revamps a neglected street block with pop-up businesses, bike infrastructure, café seating, and greenery to show walkable potential.

Guerrilla Wayfinding

Informal, citizen-installed street signs and markers designed to highlight walking times, bike routes, and hidden pedestrian connections.

Mental Speedbumps

Visual street design cues, such as textured paving, narrowed sightlines, or pedestrian activity, that intuitively cause motor vehicle drivers to decelerate.

Parklets

Small public open spaces created by converting one or two on-street curb parking spaces into landscaped seating, dining, and gathering areas.

34th Avenue Open Street (New York City)

A street corridor in Jackson Heights, Queens, that restricts through-traffic to dedicate roadway space for walking, recreation, community events, and children's play.