GEOG - Module 8 | For Exam 3

Urbanization

The concentration of human populations into discrete areas, transforming land for residential, commercial, industrial, and transit uses while reshaping daily life, economic structures, and culture (e.g., car-dependent routines in Athens, GA vs. subway-dependent life in New York City, or global retail links like Walmart).

US Census Urban Area Threshold

The US Census Bureau defines an urban area as having at least 2,000 housing units or at least 5,000 people; over 50% of the global population now lives in urban areas for jobs, goods, services, news, entertainment, and sports.

Central Business District (CBD)

The dense commercial, financial, and civic core of a city containing corporate headquarters, major media offices, banks, and courthouses that serves as the spatial anchor around which urban zones form.

Suburbs

Lower-density, spread-out, primarily residential areas (single-family homes and apartment complexes) located on the outskirts of a central city.

Burgess Concentric Zone Model ("Dartboard Model")

Divides a city into 5 concentric rings expanding outward from the CBD: 1) CBD, 2) Zone of Transition (industry/low-income), 3) Working-class modest homes, 4) Middle-class larger homes on cheaper land, and 5) Suburban commuter zone with expensive single-family homes. Driven by wealthier residents moving outward to escape CBD congestion; criticized as too tidy and predictable.

Hoyt Sector Model

Urban model focusing on residential patterns where land uses expand outward from the CBD in wedge-shaped sectors along transportation routes (railroads, rivers, highways). Low-income housing clusters near industrial/railroad corridors, while affluent sectors expand outward; assumes overly predictable development.

Impact of the Highway on Cities

Extended urban expansion beyond simply escaping CBD industry, creating a new auto-centric lifestyle that allowed people to live much farther from work and sparked the rise of modern suburbs.

Harris-Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model

Auto-centric urban model showing that personal automobile access reshapes cities around several distinct functional hubs (airports, universities, business parks) rather than a single dominant CBD, capturing the rise of true suburbanization.

Galactic City Model

Complex, deconcentrated metro model where functions disperse across suburban edge cities connected by a ring or loop highway system while the central city acts as a business and recreational/festival area (e.g., Atlanta, GA anchored by the I-285 perimeter loop).

Urban Sprawl

Unrestricted, low-density outward expansion of housing, commercial strip malls, and roads over large areas without coordinated urban planning. Driven by the automobile era and jurisdictional fragmentation, it demolishes farmland/industrial sites and forces continuous road widening.

Equity & Appreciation (Homeownership Wealth)

The two primary mechanisms by which homeowners build long-term net worth: paying down mortgage principal (equity) and property value increases over time (appreciation)—allowing owners to sell or leverage assets while renters build zero equity.

Redlining

A discriminatory (now illegal) 20th-century real estate and banking practice where lenders and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) drew color-coded risk maps—outlining racial minority neighborhoods in red ("risky"—no loans) and all-white neighborhoods in green ("good investments").

Redlining Statistics & Fair Housing Act of 1968

Between 1934 and 1962, the federal government underwrote $120 billion in home loans with less than 2% going to non-whites; redlining was outlawed by the Fair Housing Act of 1968, though its racial wealth-gap legacy persists today.

Gentrification

The renewal and rebuilding of lower-income urban neighborhoods into middle- and upper-class areas following suburban tax-base loss, driven by government infrastructure investments (sewers, sidewalks, parks, stadiums) and private home renovations; raises property taxes and rents, displacing low-income residents (e.g., Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta, GA).

New Urbanism

An urban design vision by architects and planners to counter urban sprawl by creating walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods with diverse housing, job options, public spaces, and reduced traffic to foster community and sense of place (e.g., Seaside, Florida).

Four Critiques of New Urbanism

1) Privatizes historically public spaces (parks, town centers, shopping districts), 2) Designed primarily for affluent residents rather than true affordability, 3) Fails to address deeper social inequities, and 4) Strips away the organic grittiness and authentic character of cities.