AP Human - Unit 6 Vocab: Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes

Urbanization

An ongoing process of developing towns and cities

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. Had its own political system and functioned independently from others of its kind. The population in the surrounding villages and territory received services and protection from the urban center. These communities were often raided by other groups for their wealth. As a result, defense was a primary consideration, and military leaders evolved into political rulers, or kings.

Metropolitan Statistical Area

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 that 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.

Brochert's Transportation Model

Describe urban growth based on transportation technology.

Suburbanization

Involves the process of people moving, usually from cities, to residential areas on the outskirts of cities. There, they form communities that are connected to the city for jobs and services. However, suburbs are often less-densely populated and less-ethnically diverse than inner cities.

Boomburbs

Are rapidly growing communities ( over

10 percent per 10 years), have a total population of over 100,000 people, and are not the largest city in the metro area. This type of community develops differently than a traditional city and usually do not have a dense urban center.

Edge Cities

Cities which are nodes of economic activity that have developed in the periphery of large cities. They usually have tall office buildings, a concentration of retail shops, relatively few residences, and are located at the junction of major transportation routes.

Megacities

Have a population of more than 10 million people.

Metacities

Sometimes called hypercities, are defined in two ways:

- continuous urban area with a population greater than 20 million people

- attributes of a network of urban areas that have grown together to form a

larger interconnected urban system

Megalopolis

Goes back to the early 1900s and describes a chain of connected cities. It became more common after 1961, when French geographer Jean Gottman used it to describe the continuously developed string of cities from Boston-through New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore-to Washington, DC.

Conurbation

An uninterrupted urban area made of towns, suburbs, and cities. The cities crossed state boundaries and exceeded the definition of a metropolitan area, which is focused on a single, urban center. Gattman noted that, although

legally the major cities remained separate, they and their suburbs had become a single region that had taken on some characteristics of a single, massive city.

Exurbs

The prosperous residential districts beyond the suburbs. Contributing to exurbanism is the ability of people to work remotely via technology, which removes the need to commute.

Deurbanization (Counter-Urbanization)

While cities are the destination for many of the world's migrants, the counter-flow of urban residents leaving cities

World Cities

That exert influence far beyond their national boundaries. All are currently media hubs

and financial centers with influential stock exchanges, banks, and corporate headquarters. Many are the headquarters of international organizations. They are the control centers for the global economy where key decisions about products, manufacturing, banking, cultural trends, marketing and information originate.

Urban Hierarchy

Ranking, based on influence or population size

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. That is, that the rank of a city within an urban system will predict

the size of the city.

Primate City

If the largest city in an urban system is more than twice as large as the next largest city,

the largest city is said to have primacy. It is more developed than other cities in the system, and consequently, disproportionately

more powerful.

Gravity Model

Model states that larger and closer places will have more interactions than places that are smaller and farther from each other. This model can be used to predict the flow of workers, shoppers, vacationers, migrants, information, mail, products, economic activity, and nearly any other flow between cities.

Central Place Theory

Walter Christaller, a German geographer, proposed the this theory to explain the distribution of cities of different sizes across a region. The model used consumer behavior related to purchasing goods and services to explain the distribution of settlements.

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

High Order Services

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

Low Order Services

Usually less expensive than higher-order services, require a small population to support,

and are used on a daily or weekly basis.

Hexagonal Hinterlands

This shape 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.

Concentric Zone Model

Describes a city as a series of rings that surrounds a central business district. It is known as the Burgess model because sociologist

E. W Burgess proposed it in the 1920s.

Hoyt Sector Model

Also called the sector model. While Burgess used land-use rings that grew outward from the CBD, Hoyt described how different types of land use and housing were all located near the CBD early in a city's history. Each grew outward as the city expanded, creating wedges, or sectors of land use, rather than rings.

Multiple Nuclei Model

This model suggested that functional zonation occurred around multiple centers,

or nodes.

Galactic City Model

In it, an original CBD became surrounded by a system of smaller nodes that mimicked its function. As suburbs grew, they took on some CBD functions.

Squatter Zones/Settlements

They often lack sufficient public services for electricity, water, and sewage. Similar to Latin American favelas, they face problems with drugs, crime, and disease.

Disamenity Zones

Areas not connected to city services and

under the control of criminals. They are often in physically unsafe locations, such as on steep, unstable mountain slopes. Structures are poorly constructed, often by the residents themselves, and densely packed together.

Traditional CBD

Which existed before European colonization, has small shops clustered along narrow, twisting streets. It includes the formal economy-permanent stores with full-time jobs that comply with local regulations and have set wages.

Colonial CBD

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

Latin American City Model

Is often 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.

Southeast Asian City Model

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.

Urban Infill

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

Zoning Ordinances

Regulations that define how property in specific geographic regions may be used.

Urban Planning

A process of promoting growth and controlling change in land use.

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. The municipal government is responsible for managing infrastructure at the local scale, although the federal government often subsidizes large expenses.

Sustainability

Using the earth's resources while not causing permanent damage to the environment

Greenbelts

Areas of undeveloped land around an urban area, have been created to limit a city's growth and preserve farmland. At the same time, they provide an area for people to enjoy recreation and the environment.

New Urban Design

Set of strategies to put smart growth into action within communities.

Mixed-Use Development

Vibrant, livable, and walkable. Homes would include a variety of sizes and price ranges to create a socially diverse community. Shared open spaces and community gathering

spaces are also common.

Smart-Growth Policies

Combat urban sprawl and create a new vision for cities that are more sustainable and equitable. Focuses on city planning and transportation systems of an urban region.

Slow-Growth Policies

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.

Quantitative Data

Is information that can be counted, measured, or sequenced by numeric value.

Qualitative Data

Is based primarily on surveys, field studies, photos, video, and interviews from people who provide personal perceptions and meaningful

descriptions.

Redlining

The process by which banks refuse

loans to those who want to purchase and improve properties in certain urban

areas, was common.

Blockbusting

When people of an ethnic group sold their homes upon learning that members of another ethnic group were moving into the neighborhood.

Inclusionary Zoning

Practices offer incentives for developers to set aside a percentage of housing for low-income renters or buyers.

Zones of Abandonment

Areas of a city that have been deserted by their owners for either economic or environmental reasons.

Urban Renewal

This policy allowed governments to clear out the blighted inner-city slums, which usually displaced the residents to low-income government housing complexes, and built new development projects.

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.

Gentrification

The process of converting an urban inner-city neighborhood from a mostly low-income, renter-occupied area to a predominately wealthier, owner-occupied area of a city.

Informal Settlements

Densely populated areas built without coordinated planning and without sufficient public services for electricity, water, and sewage.

Suburban Sprawl

The rapid spread of development outward from the inner city

Ecological Footprint

Impact of human activity on the environment.

Brownfields

Consists of dilapidated buildings and polluted or contaminated soils. These are expensive to remove or repair and often remain in cities, devaluing neighboring properties.

Urban Redevelopment

Involves renovating a site within a city by removing the existing landscape and rebuilding from the ground up. The process of urban redevelopment usually begins when a local government declares that an area it wishes to develop is blighted, in a deteriorated condition.