APHUG Units 6/7

5/2/25

Ecumene

The permanenty inhabited portion of the earth’s surface

Rural

area(farms and villiages) with low concentrations of people

Urban

Areas(cities) with high concentrations of people

Suburbs

Areas that are primarily residential areas near cities

Settlements

A place with a permament human population, first=12,000 years ago

Urbanization

The process of developing towns and cities, an ongoing process that does not end

Percent urban

An indicator of the proportion of the population that lives in cities and towns as compared to those who live in rural areas

Site

describes the characteristics at the immediate location(climate, labor force, etc.)

Situation

refers to the location of a place relative to its surroundings and its connectivity to other places

City-state

consists of an urban center its currounding territory and agricultural villages that have their own political system and function independently from others

Urban hearth

An area generally associated with defensible sites and river valleys in which seasonal floods and fertile soils allowed for agricultural surplus

Urban area

A central city plus land developed for commercial, industrial, or residential purposes and includes the surrounding suburbs

City

Legally, a higher density area with territory inside officially recognized political boundaries

Metropolitan area

Sometimes called a metro area, a collection of adjacent cities’ economically connected, across which population density is high

Metropolitan statistical area (MSA)

Another way to define a city. Consists of at least 50,000 people, the country in which it is located have a high degree of social and economic connection with the urban core

Micropolitian statistical area

Cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants(and less than 50,000) and have a high level of connection to the urban core

Nodal region

Focal point in a matrix of connections

Social heterogeneity

The population of cities, compared to other areas, contains a greater variety of people DIVERSITY

Time-space compression

The development of the internet - to transport ideas - has allowed for people to work from home, increased distance people can live from the city

Borchert’s transportation model

A model designed by John Borchert to describe urban growth based on transportation technology

Pedestrian cities

Cities shaped by the distances people can walk

Streetcar suburbs

Communities that grew up along rail lines

Suburbanization

Involves the process of people moving from cities to residential areas on the outskirts of cities

Sprawl

The rapid expanison of the special extent of a city and occurs for numerous reasons

Leap-frog development

Where developers purchase land and build communities beyond the periphery of the city’s built area

Boomburbs

Rapidly growing communities (over 10% growth over the last 10 years) have a population of over 100,000 people, and are not the largest city in the metro area

Edge cities

Nodes of economc activity that have developed in the periphery of large cities

Counter-urbanization (Deurbanization)

The counterflow of urban residents leaving cities

Exurbs

The prosperous residential districts beyond the suburbs

Reurbanization

when suburbanites retuen to live in the city SUBURBS ———> URBAN CITY

Megacities

Areas that have a population of more than 10 MIL people

Metacities

Continious urban area with a population of more than 20 MIL people. (Large interconnected urban system)

Megalopolis

A chain of connected cities, especially from NYC to WASH D.C. and Philadelphia

Conurbation

An uninterupted urban area made of towns, suburbs, and cities

World cities(global cities)

Cities like New York, London, Toyko, and Paris which exert influence far beyond their national boundaries

Urban hierarchy

Ranking based on population size of cities in countries

Nodal cities

(CITIES) Command centers on a regional and occacionally national scale; cities like Denver, Phoenix, and Minneapolis

Urban system

An interdependent set of cities that interact on the regional, national and global scale

Rank-size rule

The nth largest city in any region will be 1/n the size of the largest city. The rank will predict the size of the city

Higher-order services

Expensive, need a large number or people, and ony occasionally utilized (SERVICES)

Lower-order services

Less expensive, need a smaller number of people to support, used on a daily/weekly basis (SERVICES)

Primate city

If the city in an urban system is more than twice as large as the next largest city

Gravity model

Larger and closer places will have more interactions than places that are smaller and farther from each other

Central place theory

Theory proposed by Walter Christaller to explain the distribution of settlements

Central place

A location where people go to recieve goods and services

Market area

Zone that contains people who will purchase goods or services

Hexagonal hinterlands

Compromise between a square and a circle that Christaller used in his model

Threshold

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

Range

The distance people will travel to obtain specific goods. HIGH ORDER = FAR BASIC SERVICES = NEAR

Functional zonation

The idea that portions of an urban area, regions/zones in the city, have specific purposes

Central business district (CBD)

The commerical heart of a city located near the physical center and the focus of the transportation and servicies

Bid-rent theory

Explains land use in central business districts - land in center will have higher value than land further away from the city’s center

Commensal relationship

When commerical interests benefit each other, EX: clothing and shoe stores benefit by being in the same zone

Residential zones

Areas in cities where people live rather than commerical/industrial areas

Concentric zone model

A model that describes a city as a series of rings that surrounds a central business district

Sector model (Hoyt’s model)

A model developed by Homer Hoyt that describes how different types of land use and housing were located near the CBD early in a city’s history. Each grew outward, creating wedges instead of rings

Harris and Ullman multiple Nuclei model

Suggests that functional zonation occured around multiple centers = a patchwork of land use

Peripheral model

A varient of the HUMNM, describes sub-urban neighborhoods surrounding an inner city and served by nodes of commerical activity

Galactic city model

An orginal CBD became surrounded by a system of smaller node which mimcked its function

Mosque

Worship centers of Islam, also the center of an islamic city and surrounded by a complex of structures to serve the public

Citadel

A fort designed to protect the city with its related palace and barracks for soldiers

Suqs

Traditional outdoor markets or covered bazars, located along major roads

Griffin-Ford model

A model often used to describe Latin American cities, with a 2 part CBD at the center of the city

Commercial spine

Part of the GFm, a major thoroughfare extending from the CBD featuring high-end commercial activity w/ wealthy residents living on either sides

Mall

A growing secondary sector

Periférico

The outer ring of a city in the GFm

Shantytowns

Areas of poorly built housing normally on the periférico

Favelas (barrios)

Neighborhoods marked by extreme poverty, homelessness and lawlessness

Disamenity zones

Areas not connected to city services and under the control of criminals

Traditional CBD

CBD which existed before European colonization, has small shops, clustered along narrow streets. It includes the formal economy

Colonial CBD

CBD that has broad straight avenues and large homes, parks and administrative centers

Informal economy zone

Thrives with curbside, carside and stall based businesses that often hire people temporarily and do not follow all regulations

Periodic markets

Where small scale merchants congregate weekly or yearly to sell their goods.

Informal settlements/Squatter settlements

Settlements that lack sufficient public services for electricty water and sewage

McGee model

A model that describes the land use or many large cities in Southeast Asia

Zoning ordinances

regulations that define how property in specific geographic regions that may be used

Urban planning

A process of promoting growth and controlling change in land use

Inner city

Residential areas surrounding the CBD

Residential density gradients

As one moves further from the inner city, population and housing unit density declines and types of housing change

Filtering

When houses pass from one social group to another

Invasion and succession

The process by which one social/ethnic group gradually replaces another through filtering

Urban infill

The process of increasing the residential density of an area by replacing open space with residencies

Suburbanization of businesses

The movement of commerce out of cities to suburbs where rents are cheaper and communtes for employees are shorter

Infrastructure

Critical to the functioning of any city, the facilities and systems that serve the population

Municipal

The local governemt of a city or town and the services it provides

Municipality

A local entity that is all under the same jurisdiction

Annexation

The process of adding land to a city’s legally defined territory

Incorporation

The act of legally coming together to form a new city

Bedroom communities

Communter suburbs w/out a CBD of their own

Unincorporated areas

Populated regions which do not fall within the legal boundaries of any city/municipality

Public transportation

Buses, Subways, light rails, and trains that are operated by a government agency

Sustainability

Using the earth’s resources while not causing permanent damage to the environment

Smart growth policies

Policies to combat urban sprawl and create a new vision for cities that is more sustainable and equitable

Greenbelts

Areas of undeveloped land around an urban area

Slow-growth cities

cities that adopt policies to slows the outward spread of urban areas in order to encourage a denser, more compact city.

New urban design

A set of strategies designed to put smart growth into action within communities

Mixed use neighborhoods

Part of new urban design, neighborhoods that would have a mix of homes and businesses

Urban infill

The opposite of leapfrog development/sprawl: the process of building up underused lands within a city

Transit-oriented development

Locates mixed use residential and business communities near mass transit stops → decreases the need for cars

Livability

A set of principles that supports sustainable urban designs : affordable/equitable housing, access to employment and community services, transportation, and civic engagment