APHUG Unit 6 - Cities and Urban Land Use Patterns and Processes

Urbanization

An increase in the percentage of the number of people living in urban settlements.

Megacity

An urban settlement with a total population in excess of 10 million people.

Metacity

Has more than 20 million people.

Suburbanization

Population shift from central urban areas to suburbs.

Sprawl

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

Decentralization

Transfer of control of an activity or organization to several local offices or authorities rather than one single one.

Edge cities

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

World(global) city

An urban center that is a major player in the global economy and is connected to other global cities through economic, cultural and political linkages. Major center for the provision of services in the global economy.

Urban hierarchy

A ranking of settlement (hamlet, village, town, city, metropolis) according to their size and economic functions.

Globalization

Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.

Rank-size rule

The country's nth-largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.

Primate city rule

The largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second ranking settlement.

Primate city

A city that is the largest settlement in a country and has more than twice as many people as the second largest city. This city dominates a country's economics and cultural values.

Gravity model

Predicts that the optimal location of a service is directly related to the number of people in the area and inversely related to the distance people must travel to access it. Big cities or corporations are likely to attract people from a large radius because of their size. The further away you get the less people are like to go to that city or corporation.

Central place theory

A theory that explains the distribution of services based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services; larger settlements are fewer and farther apart then smaller settlements and provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel further.

Central place

Market center for the exchange of services by people attracted from the surrounding area.

Concentric zone model

A city grows outward from a central area in a series on concentric rings. (usually planned)

Sector model

A city develops in a series of sectors. Certain areas of of the city are more attractive for various activities.

Multiple nuclei model

A city is a complex structure that includes a CBD as well as other centers around which activities occur.

Galactic city model

Urban area consists of an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential and service nodes or nuclei tied together by a beltway or ring road.

Latin American city model

Most cities have a central business district, one dominant elite residential sector, and a commercial spine.

Asian city model

The focal point is the port zone, stemming from which are high-class and middle-class residential areas. There is not really a formal CBD but rather the functions of the CBD are dispersed to several nodes.

African city models

Mostly concentric zone model, inner rings have high-income people due to the their proximity to business and consumer services. Low-income people and squatter settlements are commonly housed in the outer rings.

Sustainable design

Communities use smart growth and green building to create neighborhoods that are economically thriving and environmentally responsible.

Transit-oriented development

Urban areas designed to integrate transit functions with people, activities, buildings and public spaces that aim to optimize access to public transportation.

New urbanism

Planning and design approach that seeks to create more livable, sustainable, and equitable communities by focusing on the principals of walkability, mixed-use development, and a human-scaled built environment.

Greenbelt

A designated area of land around a city or urban area that is protected from development in order to preserve open space, reduce urban sprawl, and promote sustainable land use.

Smart growth

Legislations and regulations to limit suburban growth and preserve farmland.

Urban segregation

The degree to which two or more groups live separately from one another, in different parts of an urban environment.

Census

Counts the population of a nation, state, or other geographic region. Records characteristics of said population. (age, sex, occupation, ect.)

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 the adjacent counties meeting one of several tests indicating a functional connection to the central city.

Urbanized area

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

Discrimination

The practice of denying an individual or group the right to something because of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, ect.

Redlining

Discriminatory practice in which financial institutions deny or limit financial services, insurance, or other resources to residents of certain areas, typically because of race or ethnicity.

Blockbusting

A process by which real estate agents convince white property owners to sell their houses at low prices because of fear that persons of color will soon move into the neighborhood.

Squatter(informal) settlements

Residential area where housing has been built on land to which the occupants have no legal claim or has not been built to the cities standards for legal buildings.

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.

Urban renewal

Rebuilding of the poorer areas in a city to attract more high income residents.

Gentrification

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

Bid rent curve

How people will pay differently for land depending on how close it is to the city.