Unit 7 Cities and Urban Land Use

Urbanization

The movement of people from rural areas to cities

City

A relatively large, densely populated settlement with a much larger population than rural towns and villages; Cities serve as important commercial, governmental, and cultural hubs for the surrounding regions

Urban

Relating to a city

Agricultural surplus

Crop yields that are sufficient to feed more people than the farmer and his or her family

Socioeconomic Stratification

The structuring of society into distinct socioeconomic classes, including leadership (for instance, a government or ruling class) that exercise control over goods and people

First Urban Revolution

The agricultural and socioeconomic innovations that led to the rise of the earliest cities

Urban Hearth Areas

Regions in which the world's first cities evolved

Site

An absolute location of a place on Earth

Situation

The relative location of a place in reference to its surrounding features, or its regional position with reference to other places

Capitalism

An economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than owned and run by the state

Communism

An economic and political system in which all property is publicly owned and managed

Streetcar suburb

A settlement outside of a city with streetcar lines; the streetcars take residents into and out of the city easily

Second Urban Revolution

The industrial innovations in mining and manufacturing that led to increased urban growth

Redevelopment

A set of activities intended to revitalize an area that has fallen on hard times

Metropolis

A very large and densely populated city, particularly the capital or major city of a country or region

Urban Area

Any self-governing place in the United States that contains at least 2500 people

Urbanized Area

In the United States, an urban area with 50,000 people or more

Urban Cluster

In the United States, an urban area with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants

Metropolitan Statistical Area

In the United States, a region with at least one urbanized area as its core

Micropolitan Statistical Area

In the United States, a region with one or more urban clusters of at least 10,000 people as its cores

Suburb

A populated area on the outskirts of a city

Urbanization Rate

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

Suburbanization

The movement of people from urban core areas to the surrounding outskirts of a city

Sprawl

The tendency of cities to grow outward in an unchecked manner

Annexation

Legally adding land area to a city in the United States.

Bedroom Communities

A residential suburb inhabited largely by people who commute to a nearby city for work

Automobile Cities

Cities whose size and shape are dictated by and almost require individual automobile ownership

Borchert's Epochs

The five distinct periods in the history of American urbanization. Each epoch is characterized by the impact of a particular transport technology on the creation and differential rates of growth of American cities.

Density Gradient

The change in density in an urban area from the center to the periphery.

Infrastructure

The fundamental facilities and systems serving a country, city, or other area, necessary for its economy to function including things such as roads, electricity, sewers, etc.

Decentralize

In an urban context, to move business operations from core city areas into outlying areas such as suburbs

Edge city

A concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment that developed in the suburbs, outside of a city's traditional downtown or central business district

Boomburb (also called boomburg)

A place with more than 100,000 residents that is not a core city in a metropolitan area; a large suburb with its own government

Infill Development

The building of new retail, business, or residential spaces on vacant or underused parcels in already-developed areas

Exurb

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 of the global economy, in which major decisions are made about the world's commercial networks and financial markets (also called a global city)

Megacity

A very large city that typically has a population of over ten million people

Metacity

A very large city that typically has a population of over twenty million people

Megalopolis/Conurbation

An overgrown urban area created by the gradual merging of several metropolitan areas

Gated Community

Privately governed and highly secure residential area within the bounds of a city; often has a fence or a gate surrounding it

Urban System

A set of interdependent cities or urban places connected by networks

Urban Hierarchy

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

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 dominates the country's economic, political, and cultural life

Central Place Theory

A model, developed by Walter Christaller, that attempts to understand why cities are located where they are

Central Place

A settlement that makes certain types of products and services available to consumers

Threshold

In central place theory, the number of people required to support businesses

Range

In central place theory, the distance people will travel to acquire a good

Gravity Model

The idea that the closer two places are, the more they will influence each other

Concentric Zone Model

A model of a city's internal organization developed by E. W. Burgess organized in five concentric rings that model the arrangement of different residential zones radiating outward from a central business district

Hoyt Model or Sector Model

A model of a city's internal organization, developed by Homer Hoyt, that focuses on transportation and communication as the drivers of the city's layout

Multiple-Nuclei Model

A model of a city's internal organization, developed by Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman, showing residential districts organized around several nodes (nuclei) rather than one central business district

Galactic City Model or Peripheral Model

A model of a city's internal organization in which the central business district remains central, but multiple shopping areas, office parks, and industrial districts are scattered throughout the surrounding suburbs and linked by metropolitan expressway systems

Griffin-Ford Model

A model of the internal structure of the Latin American city developed by Ernst Griffin and Larry Ford

Central Business District (CBD)

The area of a city where retail and office space activities are clustered.

African City Model

Created in 1962 to explain the colonial impact on African cities. There are three segments that make up the CBD: Colonial, Traditional, and Market Zone. There are also Informal Satellite Townships, where squatter settlements are located on the outermost ring. Examples today would be cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban

Asian City Model

Based on a port that functions similarly to the CBD. Also features high-class residential zones that stem from the center, middle-class residential zones that occur in inner-city areas, and low-income squatter settlements that occur in the periphery.

Latin American City Model

Cities are built up around a core central business district (CBD). Out of that district comes a commercial spine that is surrounded by elite housing. These areas are then surrounded by three concentric zones of housing that decrease in quality as one moves away from the CBD

Gentrification

The displacement of lower income residents by higher-income residents as an area or neighborhood improves

Perceived Density

The general impression of the estimated number of people present in a given area

Zoning Regulations

Laws that dictate how land can be used

Fiscal Squeeze

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

Built Environment

The human made space in which people live, work, and engage in leisure activities on a daily basis

Smart Growth

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

Urban Planning

A technical and political process concerned with the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportation, communications, and distribution networks

Compact Design

Development that grows up (in the form of taller buildings) rather than out (in the form of urban sprawl)

Diverse Housing Options

Policy that encourages building quality housing for people and families of all life stages and income levels in a range of prices within a neighborhood

Mixed Land Use

The mixture of many types of buildings that have different uses in the layout itself. For example, there may be a mixture of residential buildings located nearby the office buildings, shops, cinemas, schools, coffee shops, parks and transport stations

New Urbanism

An approach to city planning that focuses on fostering European-style cities of dense settlements, attractive architecture, and housing of different types and prices within walking distance to shopping, restaurants, jobs, and public transportation

Walkability

Measure of how friendly an area is to walking. Walkability has health, environmental, and economic benefits.

Pedestrian Cities

Taken to the highest level of urbanism, these are cities with entire networks of car-free streets

Mass Transit

Public transportation, especially in an urban area

Greenbelt

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

Urban Growth Boundary

Set in an attempt to control urban sprawl by, in its simplest form, mandating that the area inside the boundary be used for urban development and the area outside be preserved in its natural state or used for agriculture

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, with the goal of avoiding the negative effects of sprawl

Anti- Displacement Tenant Activists

Advocates for poor and working-class residents who are at risk of losing their affordable housing to new development

De Facto Segregation

Racial segregation that is not supported by law but is still apparent

Mortgage

A loan that is taken out to purchase a home

Redlining

The practice of identifying high-risk neighborhoods on a city map and refusing to lend money to people who want to buy property in those neighborhoods

Blockbusting

A practice in which realtors persuade white homeowners in a neighborhood to sell their homes by convincing them that the neighborhood is declining due to black families moving in

White Flight

The mass movement of white people from the city to the suburbs

Food Deserts

An area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food

Eroding Tax Base

Low income inner city residents require public services but they can pay very little taxes to support these

Filtering

A process of change in the use of a house, from single family owner occupancy to abandonment.

Public Housing

Housing owned by the government; in the United States, it is rented to residents with low incomes, and the rents are set at 30 percent of the families incomes.

Racial Steering

Real estate agents advising customers to purchase homes in neighborhoods depending on their race

Segregation

A social system that provides separate facilities for minority groups

Slum/ Favela/ Barrio/ Shantytown

A district of a city marked by poverty and inferior living conditions

Ghettoization

A section of a city, especially a thickly populated slum area, inhabited predominantly by members of an ethnic or other minority group, often as a result of social or economic restrictions, pressures, or hardships

Homelessness

Living in housing that is below the minimum standard or lacks secure tenure

Affordability

The maximum price that a buyer can afford to pay for a house or apartment

Housing Choice Voucher Program

A federal government program to assist very low income families, the elderly, and the disabled with affordable, decent, safe, and sanitary housing.

Violent Crime

A category of crime that includes murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault

Social Controls

Formal or informal institutions that help to maintain law and order in a place

Environmental Injustice

Occurs when certain groups carry a larger share of environmental risks and hazards than groups who have the power to influence decisions about the environment

Environmental Racism

Occurs when areas inhabited by low income people of color are targeted for environmental contamination

Environmental Justice

The movement to fix environmental discrimination

Squatter Settlement

An area of degraded, seemingly temporary, inadequate, and often illegal housing

Land Tenure

The right to own or hold property; it defines the ways in which rights to that property are managed.