AP Human Geo Unit 6 Vocab

City

a relatively large, densely populated settlement w/a much larger population than rural towns & villages; cities serve as important commercial, governmental & cultural hubs for their surrounding regions

Urban

relating to a city

Agricultural surplus

crop yields that are sufficient to feed more ppl than the farmer & their family

Socioeconomic stratification

the structuring of society into socioeconomic classes including leadership (gov’t/ruling class) that exercise control over goods & ppl

1st urban revolution

the agriculture & socioeconomic innovations that led to the rise of the earliest cities

Urban hearth areas

regions in which the world’s 1st cities evolved

Site

an absolute location on Earth

Situation

the relative location of a place in reference to it’s surrounding features/its regional position w/reference to other places

Capitalism

an economic & political system in which a country’s trade & industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than owned & run by the state

Communism

an economic & political system in which all property is publicly owned & managed

Streetcar suburb

a settlement outside of a city w/ streetcar lines; the streetcars take residents into & out of the city easily

Second urban revolution

the industrial innovations in mining & manufacturing that led to increased urban growth

Redevelopment

a set of activities intended to revitalize an area that has fallen on hard times

Metropolis

a very large and densely populated city, particularly the capital or major city of a country or region

Urban area

any self-governing place in the US that contains at least 2500 people

Urbanized area

in the US, an urban area w/ 50,000 ppl or more

Urban cluster

in the US, an urban area w/ fewer than 50,000 inhabitants

Metropolitan statistical area

in the US, a region w/ at least one urbanized area as its core

Micropolitan statistical area

in the US, a region w/ one or more urban clusters of at least 10,000 ppl as its cores

Suburb

a populated area on the outskirts of a city

Urbanization rate

the percentage of a nation’s population living in towns and cities

Suburbanization

the movement of people from urban core areas to the surrounding outskirts of a city

Sprawl

the tendency of cities to grow outward in an unchecked manner

Automobile cities

cities whose size and shape are dictated by and almost require individual automobile ownership

Decentralize

in an urban context, to move business operations from core city areas into outlying areas such as suburbs

Edge city

a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment that developed in the suburbs, outside of a city’s traditional downtown or central business district

Boomburb/boomburg

a place w/ more than 100,000 residents that is not a core city in a metropolitan area, a large suburb w/ its own government

Infill development

the building of new retail, business, or residential spaces on vacant or underused parcels in already-developed areas

Exurb

a semirural district located beyond the suburbs that is often inhabited by well-to-do families

World city

a city that is a control center for the global economy, in which major decisions are made about the world’s commercial networks & financial markets (also called a global city)

Gated community

privately governed & highly secured residential area w/in the bounds of a city; often has a fence/gate surrounding it

Urban system

a set of interdependent cities/ urban places connected by networks

Urban hierarchy

a ranking of cities w/ the largest & most powerful at the top of that hierarchy

Rank-size rule

the population of a settlement is inversely proportional to its rank in the urban hierarchy

Primate city

a city that is much larger than any other city in the country & that dominates the country's economic, political & cultural life

Central place theory

a model developed by Walter Christaller, that attempts to understand why cities are located where they are

Central place

a settlement that makes certain types of products & services available to consumers

Threshold

in central place theory, the number of ppl required to support businesses

Range

in central place theory, the distance people will travel to acquire a good

Gravity model

the idea that the closer two places are, the more they will influence each other (influenced by size & distance)

Concentric zone model

a model of a city’s internal organization developed by E.W. Burgess organized in five concentric rings that model the arrangement of different residential zones radiating outward from a central business district

Hoyt model / sector model

a model of a city’s internal organization, developed by Homer Hoyt, that focuses on transportation and communication as the drivers of the city’s layout

Multiple nuclei model

a model of a city’s internal organization, developed by Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman, showing residential districts organized around several nodes (nuclei) rather than one central business district

Galactic city model/ peripheral model

a model of a city’s internal organization in which the central business district remains central, but multiple shopping areas, office parks, and industrial districts are scattered throughout the surrounding suburbs and linked by metropolitan expressway systems

Griffin-Ford model

a model of the internal structure of the Latin American city developed by Ernst Griffin and Larry Ford

Gentrification

the displacement of lower-income residents by higher-income residents as an area or neighborhood improves

Perceived density

the general impression of the estimated number of people present in a given area

Zoning regulations

laws that dictate how land can be used

Fiscal squeeze

occurs when city revenues cannot keep up w/ increasing demands for city services and expenditures on decaying urban infrastructure

Built environment

the human-made space in which people live, work and engage in leisure activities on a daily basis

Smart growth

policies that combat regional sprawl by addressing issues of population density and transportation

Compact design

development that grows up (in the form of taller buildings) rather than out (in the form of urban sprawl)

Diverse housing options

policy that encourages building quality housing for people and families of all life stages and income levels in a range of prices within a neighborhood

New urbanism

an approach to city planning that focuses on fostering European-style cities of dense settlements, attractive architecture, and housing of different types and prices within walking distance to shopping, restaurants, jobs, and public transportation

Greenbelt

a zone of grassy, forested, or agricultural land separating urban areas

Zoning

the classification of land according to restrictions on its use and development

Slow-growth city

a city that changes its zoning laws to decrease the rate at which the city spreads horizontally, with the goal of avoiding the negative effects of sprawl

Anti-displacement tenant activists

advocates for poor and working-class residents who are at risk of losing their affordable housing to new development

De facto segregation

racial segregation that is not supported by law but is still apparent

Mortgage

a loan that is taken out to purchase a home

Redlining

the practice of identifying high-risk neighborhoods on a city map and refusing to lend money to people who want to buy property in those neighborhoods

Blockbusting

a practice in which realtors persuade white homeowners in a neighborhood to sell their homes by convincing them that the neighborhood is declining due to black families moving in

White flight

the mass movement of white people form the city to the suburbs

Affordability

the maximum price that a buyer can afford to pay for a house or apartment

Housing choice voucher program

a federal government program to assist very low income families, the elderly, and the disabled with affordable, decent, safe, and sanitary housing

Violent crime

a catgory of crime that includes murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault

Social controls

formal or informal institutions that help to maintain law and order in a place

Environmental injustice

occurs when certain groups carry a larger share of environmental risks and hazards than groups who have the power to influence decisions about the environment

Environmental racism

occurs when areas inhabited by low-income people of color are targeted for environmental contamination

Environmental justice

the movement to fix environmental discrimination

Squatter settlement

an area of degraded, seemingly temporary, inadequate, and often illegal housing

Land tenure

the right to own or hold property; it defines the ways in which rights to that property are managed

Inclusionary zoning (IZ)

municipal and county planning ordinances that require a given share of new construction to be affordable for people with low to moderate incomes

Exclusionary zoning

zoning that attempts to keep low-to-moderate-income people out of a neighborhood

NIMBYs

Abbreviation for “not in my backyard”; term for people who try to prevent the construction of affordable housing and other types of development in their neighborhood

Below market rate housing

housing that costs much less than the going rate

Urban renewal

large-scale redevelopment of the built environment in downtown and older inner-city neighborhoods

Fiscal imbalance

occurs when a government must spend more than it receives in taxes

Fiscal zoning

the practice of using local land-use regulation to preserve and possibly enhance the local property tax base

Ecological footprint

the total amount of natural resources used and their impact on the natural environment

Urban heat island

a mass of warm air in cities, generated by urban building materials and human activities, that sites over a city

Urban footprint

the spatial extent of an urban area’s impacts on the natural environment

Urban risk divide

the idea that disasters and disaster risk become urban phenomena as the world’s population becomes increasingly concentrated in large cities

Brownfields

properties whose use or development may be complicated by the potential presence of hazardous substances or pollutants

Brownfield remediation

the process of removing or sealing off contaminants so that a site may be used again without any health concerns

Phytoremediation

the removal of contaminants with plant species that react with or degrade contaminants or draw up contaminants from the soil into shoots and leaves

Farmland Protection Policy Act (FPPA)

US law that grants municipalities oversight over federally funded development projects on farmland

Scattered developments

subdivisions or developments that do not border on existing settlements and that remove agricultural land from production

Southeast Asia Model/McGee Model

an urban land use model describing the layout of cities in Southeast Asia, highlighting the lack of a traditional CBD and the presence of various zones catering to different functions, often influenced by colonial history.

Sub Saharan African Model

an urban land use model that illustrates the structure of cities in Sub-Saharan Africa, characterized by a central city with various areas of development influenced by traditional, colonial, and post-colonial patterns.