Unit 6: Cities & Urban Land-Use Patterns & Processes

APHG Unit 6

Site

the place where the settlement is located. Absolute location

SItuation

description of the settlement, things that occur there, and broader patterns within that place. Relative location

Urbanization

The movement of people from rural areas to cities

Suburbanization

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

Megacity

10 million people or more

Metacity

20 million people or more

Exurb

A semi-rural district located beyond the suburbs that is usually inhabitated by families.

Edge City

Business, shopping, and entertainment that developed in the suburbs, outside a city’s traditional CBD.

Rank-size rule

A ranking system that uses population to determine hierarchy

Primate city

When a country has a city that is significantly larger than any other city

Christaller’s Central Place Theory

A model that attempts to understand why cities are located where they are

Range

how far people are willing to travel for goods and services

Threshold

minimum # of people needed for a business or amenity to function

African City Model

Huge cities characterized by squatter settlements on the outskirts of cities

Burgess Concentric Zone Model

Early cities around the time of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and the Americas

Central Business District (CBD)

The focal point industry and commercial activity within a city.

Galactic City Model AKA Peripheral Model

Focuses on explaining how edge cities began to emerge

Harris and Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model

Explains a later phase of urban development in which further decentrialization has occurred and many focal points have emerged throughout the city.

Hoyt Sector Model

Explains a later stage in urban development on which sectors become focal points that start at the traditional CBD and expand outward.

Latin American City Model

CBD is divided into a traditional market, a manufacturing focused CBD

Southeast Asian City Model

No centralized CBD and instead the port zone becomes the most important economic area

Infilling

the development of vacant parcels within previously built areas

Green belt

Designating an area of open/green land in a city

New Urbanism

An urban design movement that promotes a walkable, mixed-land use design

Walkability

Designing a city with pedestrian traffic in mind

Blockbusting

A real estate technique that encourages people to sell their property at a very low price, giving them the impression that the neighborhood is changing for the worse.

Disamenity Zones

Areas of a city that have experienced significant economic decline and therefore lacks good/services that people need

Gentrification

the restoration of deterioated urban areas by wealthier people who move into, renovate, and restore housing and sometimes businesses.

Redlining

Discrimination practices involving banks and insurance companies refusing services to keep people of certain races/ethnicities out of some neighborhoods.

Squatter settlements

Impromptu/informal housing due to lack of afforable options.

Urban renewal

The redevelopment of areas within an urban area, typically neighborhoods in economic decline.

Zones of Abandonment

Areas that come into state of disrepair and lack of upkeep from the city/state

Brown fields

An abandoned or underused industrial or commercial site that may be contaminated by hazards

Suburban sprawl

Unplanned, low-density development that spread outwards from a city into surrounding rural areas, often characterized by single-use zoning and reliance on private vehicles.

Greyfields

Vacant or underutilized commercial sites with existing infrastructure

Public housing

Government-funded residential buildings designed to provide affordable living spaces for low-income families and individuals

Boomburbs

A large, rapidly growing city that maintains a suburban character, even as it reaches populations typical of urban core cities.

Slow-growth city

An urban area that prioritizes sustainable, equitable, and people centered development over rapid population and economic growth.

Market Area (Hinterland)

The area surrounding a central place, from which people are attracted to use its goods and services

De Facto Segregation

the separation of groups, particularly racial groups, that occurs in practice but is not enforced by law, resulting from social, economic, and residential patterns rather than explicit legal mandates

Placelessness

The loss of unique local charcteristics and identify in favor of standardized, homogenized landscapes and experiences, often driven by globalization and mass production

Zoning Practices

The legal processes by which local governments regulate land use and development within specific areas.

Combined Statistical Area (CSA)

In the US, tow or more contiguous core based statistical areas tied together by commuting patterns.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

In the US, a central city of at least 50,000 population , the county within which the city is located, and adjacent counties meeting one of several tests indicating a functional connection to the central city.

Micropolitan Statistical Area

An urbanized area of between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, the county in which it is found, and adjacent counties toed to the city.

Slum

A densely population settlement charcterized by substandard housing, inadequate services, andovercorwded conditiojs,resulting in unhelath, unsafe, and socially undesirbale living environments.