AP Human Geo Unit 6 (Ch 13)

Suburb

a residential or commercial area situated within an urban area but outside the central city

Annexation

the process of legally adding land area to a city

Smart growth

legislation and regulations to limit suburban growth and preserve farmland

Sprawl

the development of suburbs at relatively low density and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area

Peripheral model

a model of North American urban areas consisting of an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential and business areas tied together by a beltway or ring road

Density gradient

the density change in an urban area from the center to the periphery

Megalopolis

a continuous urban complex in the northeastern United States

Zoning ordinance

a law that limits the permitted uses of land and maximum density of development in a community

Rush hour (peak hour)

the four consecutive 15-minute periods that have the heaviest traffic

Central City (City)

an urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent, self-governing unit known as a municipality.

Urban Area

a central city and its surrounding built-up suburbs.

Urbanized Area

in the United States, an urban area with at least 50,000 inhabitants.

Urban Cluster

in the United States, an urban area with between 2,500 and 50,000 inhabitants.

Central Business District (CBD)

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

Concentric Zone Model

a model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are spatially arranged in a series of rings.

Sector Model

a model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a series of sectors, or wedges, radiating out from the central business district.

Multiple Nuclei Model

a model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a collection of nodes and activities.

Edge cities

a large node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area.

Social Area Analysis

statistical analysis used to identify where people of similar living standards, ethnic background, and lifestyle within an urban area.

Census Tracts

an area delineated by the U.S bureau of the census for which statistics are published; in urban areas, census tract corresponds to roughly neighborhoods.

Informal Settlement

An area within a city in a less developed country in which people illegally establish residences on land they do not own or rent and erect homemade structures.

Underclass

A group in society prevented from participating in the material benefits of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic characteristics.

Filtering

A process of change in the use of a house, from single-family owner occupancy to abandonment.

Redlining

A process by which financial institutions draw red-colored lines on a map and refuse to lend money for people to purchase or improve property within the lines.

Gentrification

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

Public housing

Government-owned housing rented to low-income individual, with rents set at 30 percent of the tenant's income.

Sustainable development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Carbon capture and storage (CCS)

The process of capturing waste CO2, transporting it to a storage site, and depositing it where it will not enter the atmosphere, normally underground.