AP Human - Ch. 13 Urban Patterns

Annexation

Legally adding land to a city in the United States.

Census tract

An area delineated by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for which statistics are published; census tracts correspond roughly to neighborhoods.

Central business district (CBD)

The area of a city where retail and office activities are clustered.

Central city

An urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent, self-governing unit.

Combined statistical area (CSA)

In the United States, two or more contiguous core-based statistical areas tied together by commuting patterns.

Concentric zone model

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are spatially arranged in a series of rings.

Core-based statistical area (CBSA)

In the United States, the collection of all metropolitan statistical areas and micropolitan statistical areas.

Density gradient

The change in density in an urban area from the center to the periphery.

Edge city

A node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area.

Galactic (Peripheral) model

A model of North American urban areas consisting of an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential and business areas tied together by a beltway or ring road.

Gentrification

A process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominately low-income, renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class, owner-occupied area.

Informal (squatter) settlement

An area within a city in a less developed country in which people illegally establish residences on land they do not own or rent and erect homemade structures.

Megalopolis

An continuous urban complex in the northeastern United States.

Metropolitan statistical area (MSA)

In the United States, an urbanized area 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 between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, the county in which it is located, and adjacent counties tied to the city.

Multiple nuclei model

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a collection of nodes and activities.

Public housing

Government owned housing rented to low-income people.

Rush hour

The four consecutive 15 minute periods in the morning and evening with the heaviest volumes of traffic.

Sector model

A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a series of sectors, or wedges, radiating out from the central business district.

Smart growth

Legislation and regulations to limit suburban sprawl and preserve farmland.

Social area analysis

Statistical analysis used to identify where people of similar living standards, ethnic background, and lifestyle live within an urban area.

Sprawl

Development of new housing sites at relatively low density and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area.

Suburb

A residential or commercial area situated within an urban area but outside of the central city.

Underclass

A group in society prevented from participating in the material benefits of society because of a variety of social and economic disadvantages.

Urban area

A dense core of census tracts, densely settled suburbs, and low-density land that links dense suburbs with the core.

Urban cluster

In the United States, an urban area with between 2,500 and 50,000 residents.

Urbanized area

In the United States, an urban area with at least 50,000 inhabitants.