Unit 6: Cities and Urban Land Use

Blockbusting

A practice in which realtors persuade white homeowners in a neighborhood is declining due to black families (or minorities) moving in.

Boomburb (boomburg)

A place with more than 100,000 residents that is not a core city in a metropolitan area; a large suburb with its own government.

Brownfield

A property whose use or development may be complicated by the potential presence of hazardous substances or pollutants from previous industrial activities. These sites often require environmental cleanup before new development can occur

Brownfield Remediation

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

Central Place

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

City

A relatively large, densely populated settlement with a much larger population than rural towns and villages; cities serve as important commercial, government, and cultural hubs for their surrounding regions.

Concentric Zone Model

A model of a city's internal organization developed by E.W. Burgess that shows rings of factory production and different residential zones radiating outward from a central business district

De Facto Segregation

Racial segregation that is not supported by law but is still apparent.

Ecological Footprint

The total amount of natural resources used an their impact on the natural environment.

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

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

Exurb

A semi-rural district located beyond the suburbs that is often inhabited by well-to-do families

Farmland Protection Policy Act (FPPA)

U.S. law that grants municipalities oversight over federally funded development projects on farmland

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 the industrial districts are scattered throughout the surrounding suburbs and linked metropolitan expressway systems

Gentrification

The displacement of lower-income residents by higher-income residents as buildings in deteriorated areas of city centers are restored.

Gravity Model

The idea that the closer two places are, the more they will influence each other

Greenbelt

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

Griffin-Ford Model

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

Hoyt Model (Sector Model)

A mode of a city's internal organization, developed by Homer Hoyt, that focuses on transportation and communication as the drivers of the city's layout.

Inclusionary Zoning

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

Infill Development

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

Land Tenure

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

Metropolitan Statistical Area

In the United States, a region with at least one urbanized area as its core

Micropolitan Statistical Area

In the United States, a region with one or more urban clusters of at least 10,000 (but less than 50,000) people as its cores

Multiple-Nuclei Model

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

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

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

Primate City

A city that is much larger than any other city in the country and that dominates the country's economic, political, and cultural life.

Range

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

Rank-Size Rule

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

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.

Site

An absolute location of a place on Earth

Situation

The relative location of a place in reference to its surrounding features, or its regional position with reference to other places

Slow Growth

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

Sprawl

The tendency of cities to grow outward in an unchecked manner

Squatter Settlement

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

Suburbanization

The movement of people from urban core areas to the surrounding outer edges of the cities

Threshold

In central place theory, the number of people required to support businesses

Urban Heat Island

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

Urban Renewal

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

White Flight

The mass movement of white people from one city to the suburbs

World City

A world center of trade, finance, information , and migration

Zoning

The classification of land according to restriction on its use and development

African City Model

a model of urban development depicting a city with three central business districts, growing outward in a series of concentric rings

Filtering

The process of neighborhood change in which housing vacated by more affluent groups passes down the income scale to lower-income groups

Megacity

a city with a population of more than 10 million people

Metacity

a city with a population of more than 20 million

Mixed-Use Zoning

zoning that permits multiple land uses in the same space or structure

Regional Planning

planning conducted at a regional scale that seeks to coordinate the development of housing, transportation, urban infrastructure, and economic activities

Southeast Asia City Model

A model of urban development depicting a city oriented around a port and lacking a formal central business district, growing outward in concentric rings and along multiple nodes.

Urban Sprawl

Areas of poorly planned, low-density development surrounding a city

Walkability

a measure of how safe, convenient, and efficient it is to walk in an urban environment

Gentrification

the movement into the inner portions of American cities of middle- and upper-income people who replace low-income populations, rehabilitate the structures they occupied, and change the social character of neighborhoods

Disamenity sector

Residential zone where lowest income residents in the city live, especially in the Latin American city model. Often built on unstable or undesirable land.

Hinterland

An area of economic production that is located inland and is connected to the world by a port.

McMansion

Large homes often built in place of tear-downs in American suburbs