AP Human Geo Unit 6 Vocab

Site factors

A way of describing where a place is based on the physical characteristics of the surrounding area such as mountains, rivers, etc.

Urbanization

This refers to the movement of people to towns/cities; usually from a more rural area.

Urban renewal or redevelopment

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

Situation

This refers to a way of describing where a place is based on the physical characteristics of the surrounding area; such as near a port.

Affordable housing

This refers to residential units that are economical for the section of society whose income is below the median household income

Infrastructure

This includes the basic structure and facilities needed for operation of society such as electricity, water, sewage, wifi, etc.

Metacity

A large city with over 20 million people and found increasingly in the periphery and semi-periphery.

Suburb

A residential area located on the periphery of a city, usually consisting of single-family tract homes.

Situation

the relative location of a city (what is it near) which can influence origin, function, and growth; located near shipping routes (Hong Kong, Singapore)

Boomberg

A residential and economic urban area that is not the largest city in their metropolitan area, but has a large population (100,000+) and tends to be spread along highways (e.g. Irvine, CA)

World City

A city that functions as a service center of the world economy driving globalization; oftentimes it is a financial center.

Megacity

This is a large city with over 10 million people and found increasingly in the periphery and semi-periphery

Urban sprawl

This is unrestricted suburban growth and development over large areas spreading out from a city in which cars provide primary source of transportation

Rank-Size rule

The idea that the population of a city or town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the urban hierarchy. (½, ⅓, ¼, ⅕)

Edge city

A concentration of residential and economic (business, shopping, entertainment) activity located in the suburbs

Exurb

A residential area beyond the suburbs, often in more rural areas.

Blockbusting

A real estate technique used to encourage people to sell their property at a very low price, especially in reference to minorities moving in and led to a significant turnover in housing which benefited real estate agents and led to the "white flight" to the suburbs

Environmental injustice

A disproportionate exposure to communities of color and the poor to pollution and its effects on health and the environment. (Ex. Flint, Michigan or Jackson, Mississippi)

Squatter settlement

An area located within the city characterized by slums and the homeless and in extreme cases are controlled by gangs or drug lords; usually on the side of ravines in such places as Rio.

Medium-density housing

It is a land use pattern in which residential units include multi-unit housing, such as townhomes as well as single-unit housing

Disamenity zone

This is a residential areas characterized by extreme poverty with shelters constructed of found materials (scrap wood, etc.) that usually exist on land just outside of cities that is neither owned or rented by its occupants with little or no access to water, sewage, garbage removal, or education; AKA barrio, favela, slum, shantytown

Primate city

A country's largest city, at least twice as large as the next largest city and more than twice as significant (usually the capital city) and represents national culture e.g. Paris, France and London, England

Central Place Theory

An urban geographic theory that attempts to explain the number, size, and range of market services in a commercial system; created by Walter Christaller

Gravity Model

An urban theory that proposes the interaction between two places can be determined by the population and distance from each other.

Green space

An area of natural land on which building is restricted and whose main purpose is to curb the outward expansion of a large urban area e.g. London or Phoenix Park in Dublin

Walkability

A measure of how friendly an urban area is to walking.

Housing discrimination

Discrimination in the purchase or rental of housing on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, or veteran status.

Redlining

A discriminatory real estate practice in North America in which members of minority groups are prevented from obtaining money to purchase homes or property in predominantly white neighborhoods.

Gentrification

This is the restoration of deteriorated urban areas by wealthier (mostly middle-income) people who move into, renovate, and restore housing and sometimes businesses; usually involving yuppies; includes Mission in SF and Brooklyn, NY.

Areas of abandonment

These are areas with lack of jobs, declining land values and falling demand that cause people to leave and businesses to close.

Sustainability or Urban Sustainability

The idea that a city can meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet theirs in terms of economic, environmental and social impact.

Low density housing

A land use pattern meant for a small number of residential homes that include a lot of open space and contain the fewest people per geographic unit.

Zoning

This is classifying land and identifying the types of activities that are permitted e.g. residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural

High Density housing

This is a land use pattern in which land is occupied by residential units that include multi-unit housing such as high-rise buildings and contain the highest people per geographic unit.

Mixed land use

This is land development that blends a combination of residential, commercial, cultural, institutional and/or industrial uses.

Smart growth policies

is urban planning that avoids urban sprawl and focuses on long term implications with sustainable design initiatives and guides development into more convenient areas where infrastructure allows growth to be sustained over the long term.

New Urbanism

smart growth policy that creates walk-able, mixed land use neighborhoods with commercial and residential areas

Slow growth cities

A smart growth policies that concentrate growth in walkable urban centers to decrease sprawl. Ex. Long Beach

Range

This is the distance people are willing to travel for a particular good or service.

Brownfields

A property that may be reused but is complicated by the presence of pollutants or a hazardous substance; may involve older factory buildings or apartments.

Infilling

A new development that is placed on vacant or undeveloped land within an existing community

Filtering

This is a process by which social groups move from one residential area to another, leading to changes in the social nature of residential areas. Landlords often stop maintaining the properties.

Central Business District (CBD)

The nucleus or "downtown" of a city, where retail stores, offices, and cultural activities are concentrated, mass transit systems converge, and land values and building densities are high.

Threshold

This is the minimum number of people needed to support a service.

Urban hierarchy

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

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)

In the United States, 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.

De facto segregation

Racial segregation that occurs in schools, not as a result of the law, but as a result of patterns of residential settlement.

Inclusion Zoning

Government ordinances that require a certain number of new construction must be affordable to the lower and middle income earners.

Public housing

Housing owned by the government; in the United States, it is rented to low-income residents, and the rents are set at 30 percent of the families' incomes; often struggle with crime

Concentric Zone Model

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

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 (CBD).

Galactic City Model (Peripheral Model)

A model that represents distinct decentralization of the commercial urban landscape as the economy has to be transitioned to services as the leading form of production. Manufacturing declines significantly and becomes more specialized. There are several industrial parks.

Latin American City Model

Griffin-Ford model. Developed by Ernst Griffin and Larry Ford. Blends traditional Latin American culture with the forces of globalization. The CBD is dominant; it is divided into a market sector and a modern high-rise sector. The elite residential sector is on the extension of the CBD in the "spine". The end of the spine of elite residency is the "mall" with high-priced residencies. The further out, less wealthy it gets. The poorest are on the outer edge.

Southeast Asian City Model

McGee model. Developed by T.G McGee. The focal point of the city is the colonial port zone combined with the large commercial district that surrounds it. McGee found no formal CBD but found seperate clusters of elements of the CBD surrounding the port zone: the government zone, the Western commercial zone, the alien commercial zone, and the mixed land-use zone with misc. economic activities.

Multi-Nuclei Model

A model of urban land use developed by C.D. Harris and E.L. Ullman based on separated & specialized multiple CBDs; usually reliant on cars.

Bid rent theory

A geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the Central Business District (CBD) increases.

African City Model (De Blij Model)

A model that suggests that African cities have more than one CBD, which is a remanence of colonialism.

Islamic City model

Cities in Muslim countries that owe their structure to their religious beliefs. Islamic cities contain mosques at their center and walls guarding their perimeter. Open-air markets, courtyards surrounded by high walls, and dead-end streets, which limit foot traffic in residential neighborhoods, also characterize Islamic cities.