AMSCO Unit 6 KC#1 (6.1-6.4) Terms 1-58

Ecumene

A variety of community types with a range of population densities.

Rural

Areas (farms and villages) with low concentration of people.

Urban

Areas (cities) with high concentrations of people.

Suburbs

Are primarily residential areas near cities.

Settlement

A place with a permanent human population.

Factors Driving Urbanization

Presence of an agricultural surplus; the rise of social stratification and a leadership class or urban elite; the beginning of job specialization are all factors of

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

Consisted of an urban center (the city) and its surrounding territory and agricultural villages.

Urban Hearth

Early city-states emerged in several locations around the globe in this form. It's an area generally associated with defensible sites and river valleys in which seasonal floods and fertile soild allowed for an agricultural surplus.

Urban Area

Usually defined as a central city plus land developed for commercial, industrial, or residential purposes, and includes the surrounding suburbs.

City

A higher-density area with territory inside officially recognized political boundaries.

Metropolitan Area (metro area)

A collection of adjacent cities economically connected, across which population density is high and continuous.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

Another way to define a city. Consists of at least 50,000 people, the county in which it is located.

Micropolitan Statistical Area

Are 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 on a matrix of connections.

Morphology

Physical characteristics, such as the buildings, streets, public places, and home that can also describe an urban area.

Population Characteristics of cities (3)

Heterogeneity, immigration, and diversity are characteristics of

Time-Space Compression

The form of transportation improvements, that has led to urban growth.

Borchert's Transportation Model

Used to describe urban growth based on transportation technology.

Transportation impacts on cities

Had important effects on the urban structure leading to a decline in pedestrian cities.

Pedestrian Cities

Are the earliest urban centers, cities shaped by the distances people could walk

Streetcar Suburbs

Communities that grew up along rail lines, emerged, often creating a pinwheel shaped city.

Communications impacts on cities

Had dramatic impacts on the growth and development of cities. Cities connected to trade routes received information first.

Population and migration impacts on cities

Population growth pressure, cultural tension, environmental strain, and lack of economic opportunities created puch factors in agricultural communities.

Economic development and government policies impact on cities

Cities are now viewed as engines of growth for a country's economy. Consequently, economic and political leaders, at the national and local scale, develop policies to guide and encourage the growth of cities.China implemented the new urbanization plan. Cities in the Midwest of the United States, such as Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Chicago, were often focused on attracting manufacturing jobs; while cities in Florida, such as Orlando and Tampa , promoted development based retirement and tourism.

Suburbanization

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

Causes of USA suburbanization

The causes that contributed to this were after World War 2.

Boomburgs

A specific process that encourages sprawl.

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 propserous residential districts beyond the suburbs.

Reurbanization

The process of people returning to live in a city they left.

Megacities

Have a population of more than 10 million people.

Metacities

Sometimes called hypercities, are defined in two ways.

Megalopolis

A term for the early 1900's that describe a chain of connected cities.

Trend of urbanization in the developing world

The pattern has changed unlike in the past century where megacities were found at centers of large empires or the most powerful countries, they have now become more common in LDCs.

Conurbation

An uninterrupted urban area made of towns, suburbs, and cities.

World Cities (Global Cities)

Cities that exert influence far beyond the national boundaries. Cities like New York, London, Tokyo, and Paris.

Top 10 World Cities 2020

London, New York City, Tokyo, Paris, Singapore, Amsterdam, Berlin, Seoul, Hong Kong, Shanghai.

Urban Hierarchy

Ranking, based on influence or population size.

Nodal Cities

Command centers on a regional and occassionally nation level.

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.

Higher-order Services

Usually expensive, need a larger number of people to support, and are only occassionally utilized.

Lower-order Services

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

Primate City

Is more developed than other cities in the system, and consequency, disproportionately more powerful.

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

Is used to explain the distribution of cities of different sizes across a region.

Central Place

A location where people go to recieve goods and services.

Hinterland

The outlying towns and small communities that rely on the central city for goods and services.

Threshold

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

Range

The distance people will travel to obtain specific goods or services.

Limitations of CPT

Assumes a flat, featureless plain. It does not take into account the effects of natural landscapes of rivers, mountains, or other barriers on the distribution of cities.

Expected changed in US cities by 2040

As millenials have started families, they have relocated out of central cities into enclaves inspired by new urbanist designs. In the future, self-driving cars and other new technology could reduce the friction of distance. Voluntary segregation will likely continue, and the number of ethnic neighborhoods will flourish.

Expected changes in megacities in Asia and Africa by 2040.

The economic, social, and educational opportunities these cities offer will continue to pull in migration from rural areas. If growth exceeds carrying capacity, the standard of living will deteriorate. The increasigly dense concentration of people will increase the impacts of deadly epidemics, natural disasters, etc.