Urban Planning, Transportation, and Environmental Policy

A comprehensive vocabulary review of core urban planning terminology, transportation dynamics, land use tools, zoning classifications, environmental laws, and hazard management.

Redlining

The discriminatory practice of denying loans or financial services to specific neighborhoods based on racial or ethnic demographics rather than creditworthiness.

Gentrification

The arrival of wealthier individuals into an existing urban district, resulting in rising rents and property values as well as shifts in the area's culture and character.

Landing Zones

Neighborhoods experiencing the reverse trend of gentrification, seeing rising concentrations of lower-income residents, ethnic minorities, and people with lower education levels than the citywide average.

Urban Sprawl

Unmanaged, low-density, and widespread growth that separates land uses, increases automobile dependence, and is environmentally and economically unsustainable.

Urban Growth Boundary (UGB)

A state-mandated boundary line surrounding each city in Oregon designated to control urban expansion and protect farm and forest lands.

Comprehensive Plan

An official public planning document establishing general policies for the long-term physical development of a city or region, addressing infrastructure, health, safety, and land use.

Zoning

The public regulation of land and building use designed to shape and control the character and activities of a given place.

Functional Zoning

A regulatory approach that designates distinct geographic zones for specific types of land use, such as commercial, residential, administrative, and industrial.

Form-Based Zoning

A land use regulation focusing primarily on the physical characteristics, urban form, and architectural scale of buildings rather than strictly segregating land functions.

Intensity Zoning

A zoning strategy that limits the density and impact of land development while granting flexibility regarding the specific forms and functions of the space.

Incentive Zoning

A regulatory framework that awards development bonuses, such as increased height or density, in exchange for developer-provided public amenities or affordable housing.

Subdivision Process

The division of a larger tract of land into smaller building lots, blocks, streets, and open spaces according to local development standards.

Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)

A market-based planning mechanism where development rights are shifted from sensitive conservation areas (sending zones) to designated growth locations (receiving zones) to increase permitted density.

Eminent Domain

The legal power of a government entity to take private real property for public purpose, conditioned upon the payment of just compensation.

Police Powers

The inherent governmental authority to establish regulations and laws protecting the public health, safety, morals, and general welfare.

Scenario Planning

A methodology enabling planning professionals and community members to evaluate multiple possible interventions to respond dynamically to an uncertain future.

Derived Demand

The transportation principle stating that movement is not undertaken for its own sake, but rather to access activities, goods, or services at a destination.

Mobility

The capacity to move quickly and unimpeded through an environment, typically quantified using vehicle speed, throughput, Average Daily Traffic (ADT), and Level of Service (LOS).

Accessibility

The ease with which people can reach desired destinations, goods, services, and opportunities, regardless of travel speed.

Throughput

A transportation metric defined as the number of vehicles or units moving past a specified point over a set duration of time.

Average Daily Traffic (ADT)

A metric measuring the total volume of vehicle traffic on a given roadway segment over a specified period divided by the number of days.

Level of Service (LOS)

A standardized grading metric used in roadway planning to gauge motor vehicle congestion, delay, and operating conditions.

Triple Convergence Theory

The theory explaining why adding roadway capacity fails to reduce congestion, as motorists converge onto new lanes by changing routes, travel modes, departure times, or making entirely new trips.

Schlossberg's Three Rules of Walking

Pedestrian planning requirements stating that walkers must have: 1) a destination within walking distance, 2) an available path to get there, and 3) a route that does not repel or exceed their stress tolerance.

Urban Transportation Eras

A historical framework classifying city layout by predominant travel mode: Walking-Horsecar Era (1800–1890), Streetcar Era (1890–1920), Automobile Era (1920–1945), and Highway Era (1945–present).

Oregon Planning Goal 7

The statewide planning mandate requiring local jurisdictions to develop comprehensive plans that protect people and property by reducing risk from natural hazards.

Climate Change Mitigation

Interventions designed to reduce or prevent the emission of greenhouse gases to achieve specific climate reduction targets.

Climate Change Adaptation

Strategies and infrastructural adjustments deployed to protect communities, natural resources, and the built environment from the consequences of climate change.

Green Building

The practice of implementing healthier, resource-efficient models for the design, construction, renovation, operation, maintenance, and demolition of structures.

Risk of Disaster

The product of the intersection between a natural hazard event and an exposed, sensitive human or structural system.

Disaster Management Cycle

A framework consisting of two pre-event phases (Mitigation and Preparedness) and two post-event phases (Response and Recovery) to plan for and handle catastrophic disruptions.

Point Source Pollution

Water pollution originating from a single, discrete, and identifiable conveyance, such as industrial pipes or municipal sewage treatment facilities.

Nonpoint Source Pollution

Diffuse contamination introduced into waterways from broad land areas via rainfall runoff, snowmelt, and agricultural or urban drainage.

CERCLA (Superfund)

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, established after the Love Canal disaster to fund hazardous waste remediation and hold polluters liable.

Brownfield

An abandoned, idle, or underutilized real property where redevelopment or reuse is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination.