Urban Geography Vocabulary Review

A comprehensive review of key vocabulary terms and definitions related to urban geography.

Urbanization

An increase in the number of people and % of people living in cities.

Central Business District (CBD)

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

Concentric Zone Model

A model of city growth where a city grows outward from a central area in a series of concentric rings.

Sector Model

A model where a city develops in sectors, with certain areas being more attractive for various activities.

Multiple Nuclei Model

A model suggesting a city is a complex structure with multiple centers around which activities revolve.

Peripheral/Galactic City Model

An urban model with an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential and business areas connected by a beltway.

Bid Rent Theory

The concept that the price and demand for real estate change as the distance from the CBD increases.

Central Place Theory

A theory that explains the location and arrangement of market centers based on profitability.

Market Area (hinterland)

Area surrounding a service from which customers are attracted, represented by a hexagon in central place theory.

Range

Maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

Threshold

Minimum number of people needed to support a service.

Gravity Model

Model suggesting that larger, closer places will have greater interaction than smaller, farther places.

Rank-Size Rule

A rule stating that the nth-largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.

Primate City Rule

A rule stating that the largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

World Cities

Cities integrated into the global economic system, acting as centers for information and capital flow.

Census Tract

An area defined by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for the publication of statistics, often correlating to neighborhoods.

Annexation

The process of legally adding land area to a city.

Central City

A city surrounded by suburbs.

Urbanized Area

An area consisting of a central city and surrounding built-up suburbs.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

An area defined by a central city of at least 50,000 population and surrounding counties with functional connections.

Micropolitan Statistical Area (uSA)

An urbanized area of between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, including its surrounding counties.

Megalopolis

A continuous urban complex of MSAs, such as the BosWash corridor from Boston to Washington D.C.

Edge City

Nodes of consumer and business services located around a beltway.

Exurb

A residential area located farther away from densely packed suburbs.

Boomburb

A municipality with over 100,000 people that has been growing at a double-digit pace for three consecutive decades.

Urban Sprawl

The progressive spread of urban development over the landscape.

Zoning Ordinances

Laws that limit the permitted uses of land and maximum density of development in a community.

Smart Growth

Legislation aimed at limiting suburban sprawl and preserving farmland.

New Urbanism

A movement to transform automobile-centered cities into more sustainable, pedestrian-friendly environments.

Urban Infilling

The process of building up underused lands in cities.

Inclusionary Zoning

A method to produce affordable housing by incentivizing private developers to provide housing below market rate.

Suburbanization

The movement of people from cities to residential areas on the outskirts.

Greenbelts

Areas of undeveloped land surrounding urban areas.

Slow-growth cities

Cities with smart growth initiatives to limit horizontal growth.

Mixed-use development

Development where economic activities like residential, office, and industry are integrated.

Zone in Transition

An area of urban models characterized by industrial and poorer quality housing.

Squatter Settlements

Homemade structures established illegally on land that individuals do not own or rent.

Redlining

The practice of banks drawing lines on maps to deny loans based on geographic areas.

Gentrification

The process where middle-class individuals renovate deteriorated inner-city neighborhoods.

White Flight

The phenomenon of white individuals moving to the suburbs, impacting urban demographic shifts.

Blockbusting

A practice where real estate agents induce property owners to sell by exploiting racial or ethnic fears.

Underclass

Inner-city residents trapped in cycles of economic and social problems.

Disamenity Zones

The poorest urban areas disconnected from city services and often run by gangs.

Quantitative Data

Data from census and surveys that provide numerical information about urban changes.

Qualitative Data

Data collected through field studies and narratives, reflecting individual attitudes on urban changes.

Social Area Analysis

A method for comparing characteristics of populations in different urban areas.

Forward Capital

A capital city located in a remote area for economic, strategic, or symbolic reasons.

Zones of Abandonment

Areas experiencing economic decline leading to property and neighborhood abandonment.

Service

Any activity that fulfills human wants or needs and returns money to providers.