AP Human Geography Unit 6 Vocab Study

What is ecumene?

Refers to the portion of Earth’s surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

What does percent urban indicate?

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

What is an Urban Hearth?

An area generally associated with defensible sites and river valleys which allowed for an agricultural surplus.

What is a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the US?

An urbanized area of at least 50,000 population, the county within which the city is located, and adjacent counties meeting one of several tests indicating a functional connection to the central city.

What is a Micropolitan Statistical Area?

An urbanized area of between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, the county in which it is located, and adjacent counties tied to the city.

What is social heterogeneity?

The population of cities as compared to other areas contains a greater variety of people; diversity in terms of cultural interests, sexual orientation, languages, professional pursuits, etc.

What are streetcar suburbs?

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

What is leap frog development?

Occurs when developers purchase land and build communities beyond the periphery of the city’s built area.

What is counter-urbanization?

Net migration from urban to rural areas in more developed countries.

What is reurbanization?

The process when some suburbanites, people living in the suburbs, return to live in the city.

What is conurbation?

A continuous, extended urban area formed by the growing together of several formerly separate expanding cities.

What is the rank size rule?

A pattern of settlements in a country where the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.

What are higher order services?

Typically expensive goods/services that need a large number of people to support and are only occasionally used.

What are lower order services?

Typically less expensive services/goods that require a small population to support and are used frequently.

What is a primate city?

The largest settlement in a country and has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

What is a market area?

The area surrounding a central place from which people are attracted to use the place’s goods and services, also known as hinterlands.

What is a threshold in urban planning?

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

What is a functional zone?

Also known as nodal region; an area organized around a node or focal point.

What is the central business district (CBD)?

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

What is a commensal relationship in urban economies?

A relationship where commercial interests benefit each other.

What is a residential zone?

Areas where people live.

What is a suq?

A traditional outdoor market.

What is a favela?

Also known as barrios, neighborhoods marked by extreme poverty, homelessness, and lawlessness.

What is a disamenity zone?

Areas not connected to city services and under the control of criminals; typically located in unsafe locations and/or poorly constructed.

What is an informal economy zone?

Thrives with car-side/curbside businesses that often hire people temporarily and do not follow regulations.

What are periodic markets?

Small-scale merchants that congregate weekly or yearly to sell their goods.

What is the inner city?

Residential areas surrounding the central business district.

What is the residential density gradient?

Describes how, as one moves farther from the inner city, population and housing-unit density declines and types of housing change.

What is the 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.

What does municipal refer to?

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

What is transit-oriented development?

Locates mixed-use residential and business communities near mass transit stops, resulting in compact communities that decrease the need for automobiles.

What does livability refer to?

A set of principles that support sustainable urban designs.

What is population composition?

Gives a description of people’s income, age, gender, ethnicity, race, and family size, often provided by the census to determine needed services.

What is redlining?

A process by which financial institutions draw red-colored lines on a map and refuse to lend money for property purchases or improvements within those lines.

What is blockbusting?

A process by which real estate agents convince white property owners to sell their houses at low prices due to fear of individuals of color moving into the neighborhood.

What is a scattered site in public housing?

When the city provides rental assistance for individuals to disperse public housing throughout an area to provide better local schools and access to amenities.

What is eminent domain?

Allows the government to claim private property from individuals, pay them for the property, and then use the land for the public good.

What is gentrification?

A process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income, renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class, owner-occupied area.

What does land tenure refer to?

Legal protection of contracts to show ownership of the land or structures.

What are urban canyons?

Streets lined with tall buildings that can channel and intensify wind and prevent natural sunlight from reaching the ground.

What is the ecological footprint?

The impact of human activity on the environment.

What are brownfields?

Visual reminders on the landscape of how the centers of cities have changed over time.

What is urban redevelopment?

The process of renovating a site within a city and rebuilding from the ground up, typically happening when a local government declares an area as blighted.

What is an urban heat island?

An area of a city that is warmer than the surrounding areas.

What is suburban sprawl?

Refers to the development of new housing sites at relatively low density and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area.