AP Human Geography Unit 6

Ecumene

the permanently inhabited portion of the earth’s surface

Rural

describes areas with low concentrations of people

Urban

describes areas with high concentrations of people

Suburbs

describes areas near cities that are primarily residential

Settlement

a place with a permanent human population

Urbanization

the process of developing towns and cities

Percent Urban

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

Site

describes the characteristics at the immediate location

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 and its surrounding territory and agricultural villages

Urban Hearth

an area associated with defensible sites and fertile soils for agriculture

Urban Area

a central city and its developed land for commercial, industrial, or residential use, including suburbs

City

a densely populated area within official political boundaries

Metro/Metropolitan Area

a densely populated collection of adjacent cities with economic connections

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

another way to define a city. It consists of a city of at least 50,000 people, the county in which it is located, and adjacent counties have a high degree of social and economic integration, or connection, with the urban core

Micropolitan Statistical Area

cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants (but less than 50,000), the county in which they are located, and surrounding counties with a high degree of integration

Nodal Region

focal point in a matrix of connections

Social Heterogeneity

the diversity and variation within a population

Borchert’s Transportation Model

describes urban growth based on transportation technology

Pedestrian Cities

cities shaped by the distances people could walk

Streetcar Suburbs

communities that grew up along rail lines, often creating a pinwheel shaped city

Suburbanization

involves the process of people moving, usually from cities, to residential areas on the outskirts of cities

Sprawl

the rapid expansion of the spatial extent of a city

Leap-Frog Development

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

Boomburbs(burgs)

rapidly growing communities, have a total population of over 100,000 people, and are not the largest city in the metro area

Edge Cities

nodes of economic activity that have developed in the periphery of large cities

Counter-Urbanization/Deurbanization

the counter-flow of urban residents leaving cities

Exurbs

the prosperous residential districts beyond the suburbs

Reurbanization

the process in which suburban residents return to live in urban citites

Megacities

cities that have a population of more 10 million people

Metacities/Hypercities

defined as a continuous urban area with a population greater than 20 million people and attributes of a network of urban areas that have grown together to form a larger interconnected urban system

Megalopolis

describes a chain of connected cities

Conurbation

an uninterrupted urban area made of towns, suburbs, and cities

World (Global) Cities

cities that exert influence far beyond their national boundaries

Urban Hierarchy

a ranking based on influence or population size

Nodal Cities

command centers on a regional and occasionally national levels

Urban System

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

Rank-Size Rule

describes one way in which the sizes of cities within a region may develop. It states that the nth largest city in any region will be 1/n the size of the largest city

Higher-Order Services

usually expensive, need a large number of people to support, and are only occasionally utilized

Lower-Order Services

usually less expensive, require a small population to support, and are used on a daily or weekly basis

Primate City

describes a city in a region that is more than twice as large as the next largest city

Gravity Model

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

Central Place Theory

used to explain the distribution of cities of different sizes across a region. It uses consumer behavior to explain the distribution of settlements

Central Place

a location where people go to receive goods and services

Market Area

a zone that contains people who will purchase goods or services and surrounds a central place

Hexagonal Hinterlands

a shape used because it was a compromise between a square, in which people living in the corners would be farther from the central place, and a circle, in which there would be overlapping areas of service

Threshold

the size of population required for any particular device to exist and remain profitable

Range

the distance people will travel to obtain goods or services

Functional Zonation

the idea that portions of an urban area have specific and distinct purposes

Central Business District (CBD)

the commercial heart of a city

Bid-Rent Theory

explains agricultural land use, just as it helps explain land use in central business districts

Commensal Relationship

when commercial interests benefit each other

Residential Zones

areas where people live

Concentric Zone Model

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

Sector Model/Hoyt’s Model

describes how different types of land use and housing were all located near the CBD early in a city’s history

Multiple Nuclei Model

suggests that functional zonation occurred around multiple centers or nodes

Peripheral Model

a variant of the multiple nuclei model, describes suburban neighborhoods surrounding an inner city and served by nodes of commercial activity along a ring road or beltway

Galactic City Model

an original CBD is surrounded by a system of smaller nodes that mimicked its function

Citadel

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

Suqs

traditional outdoor markets or covered bazaars

Griffin-Ford Model

used to describe Latin American cities. It places a two-part CBD at the center of the city—a traditional market center adjacent to a modern high-rise center

Commercial Spine

a high-end, linear commercial corridor extending outward from the Central Business District

Mall

a growing secondary commercial center at the end of a spine

Periférico

the outer ring of a city

Shantytowns

areas of poorly built housing that are affected by poverty and lack of infrastructure

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

existed before European colonization and has small shops clustered along narrow, twisting streets

Colonial CBD

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

Informal Economy Zone

a zone that thrives with curbside, car-side, 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

Squatter Settlements

informal settlements located on the periphery of cities that often lack sufficient public services for electricity, water, and sewage

McGee Model

describes the land use of many large cities in Southeast Asia, where the focus of the modern city is often a former colonial port zone

Zoning Ordinances

regulations that define how poverty in specific geographic regions 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 Gradient

as one moves farther from the inner city, population and housing-unit density declines, and types of housing changes

Filtering

houses passing from one social group to another

Invasion and Succession

refers to the process by which one social or ethnic group gradually replaces another through filtering

Urban Infill

the process of increasing the residential density of an area by replacing open space and vacant housing with residences

Suburbanization of Business

the movement of commerce out of cities to suburbs where rents are cheaper and commutes for employees are shorter

Infrastructure

the facilities and systems that serve the population

Municipal

refers to the local government of a city or town and the services it provides

Municipality

refers to 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 joining two cities together to form a new city

Bedroom Communities

residential suburbs or exurbs located on the outer ring of a metropolitan area

Unincorporated Areas

populated regions that do not fall within the legal boundary of any city or municipality

Public Transportation

methods of travel operated by a government agency

Sustainability

using the earth’s resources while not causing permanent damage to the environment is referred

Smart-Growth Policies

used to combat urban sprawl and create a new vision for cities that are more sustainable and equitable. It focuses on city planning and transportation systems of an urban region

Greenbelts

areas of undeveloped land around an urban area

Slow-Growth Cities

urban centers that adopt policies to slow the outward spread of urban areas and place limits on building permits in order to encourage a denser, more compact city

New Urban Design

used to put smart growth into action within communities

Mixed-Use Neighborhoods

neighborhoods that have a mix of residential and commercial zones

Urban Infill

the process of building up underused lands within a city (opposite of leapfrog development and sprawl)

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD)

locates mixed-use residential and business communities near mass transit stops, resulting in a series of more compact communities which decreases the need for automobiles.

Livability

refers to a set of principles that supports sustainable urban designs

Quantitative Data

information that can be counted, measured, or sequenced by numeric values

Population Composition

shows where people live and gives a description of people’s income, age, gender, ethnicity, race, family size, and other details