unit 6 hgap vocab

Primate city

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

megalopolis

a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on, They are integrated enough that coordinating policy is valuable, although the constituent metropolises keep their individual identities

gravity model

a measure of the interaction of places used to predict the movement of people; applied to cities - how much pull or attraction does an area have

boomburbs

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

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

exurbs

exurbs

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

greenbelts

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

NIMBYs

abbreviation for "not in my backyard"; term for a person who tries to prevent construction of affordable housing and other types of development in their neighborhood

site

absolute location of a place on earth and its unique physical characteristics of a place (ex. climate, water bodies, topography, soil, vegetation, elevation

New Urbanism

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

squatter settlement

area of degraded seemingly temporary, inadequate and often illegal housing

High-Tech corridors

Areas along or near major transportation arteries that are devoted to the research, development and sale of high-tech products; usually develop because of the networking and the advantage of concentrating these enterprises in close proximity to one another

zone of abandonment

as people leave a city or area empty buildings are left and often fall prey to accumulating garbage, crime, and vandalism

infilling

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

world cities

cities that function at the global scale as centers of power and influence in the global economy. They supply producer services for the global economy. They are at the top of the global urban hierarchy (top 3 are London, New York and Tokyo).

slow growth city

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

megacities

city with more than 10 million residents

metacities

city with more than 20 million residents

edge city

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

compact design

development that grows up (taller buildings) instead of out (like urban sprawl)

gentrification

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

DINKS

double income no kids, people who can afford higher priced housing and housing location is influenced by their lifestyle

walkability

extent to which the built environment is friendly to the presence of people living, shopping, visiting, enjoying or spending time in an area.

mixed land use

kind of urban design, that blends multiple uses, such as residential, commercial, cultural, institutional, or entertainment, into one space, where those functions are to some degree physically and functionally integrated, and that provides pedestrian connections.

urban renewal

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

zoning regulations

laws that dictate how land can be used

urban heat island

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

affordability

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

central place theory

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

suburbanization

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

fiscal imbalance

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

Smarth Growth Policies

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

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

rank-size rule

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

redlining

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

white flight

Process where White People move out of Urban Areas and then move into Suburban or Exurban areas generally to start a family.

brownfields

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

growth boundaries

puts a limit on how far out the city can expand

de facto segregation

racial segregation that is not supported by law but still apparent

urban hierarchy

ranking of cities, with the largest and most powerful cities at the top of the hierarchy

situation

relates to its surrounding features, both human-made and natural.

urban footprint

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

urban sprawl

tendency of cities to grow outward in an unchecked manner

range

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

CBD central business district

the downtown heart of a central city, marked by high land values, a concentration of business and commerce and the clustering of the tallest buildings

fiscal zoning-

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

disamenity zone

the very poorest parts of cities that in extreme cases are not even connected to city services (amenities) and can be controlled by gangs and drugs

decentralization

to move business operations from core city areas into outlying areas such as suburbs

ecological footprint

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

urban sustainability

urban development and practices that are can meet present housing needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their housing needs

farmland protection policies

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