APHG Unit 7 Vocab

Agglomeration – Grouping of businesses in the same industry in one area for mutual benefit (e.g., sharing services, workers).

African City Model – Shows cities with three CBDs (colonial, traditional, market); common in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Blockbusting – When real estate agents convince white homeowners to sell cheaply due to fear of minority buyers, then resell at higher prices.

Boomburb – A rapidly growing suburban city with over 100,000 people that isn’t the core of a metro area.

Brownfields – Abandoned, polluted industrial sites that may be redeveloped or cleaned up.

Basic Industries – Industries that bring money into a city by selling products/services outside the local area.

Business Services – Services that support businesses, like finance, banking, insurance, and legal services.

Central Business District (CBD) – The downtown or core of a city where commercial activity is concentrated.

Central Place – A market center that provides goods/services to the surrounding area.

Central Place Theory (Christaller) – Explains how and where services are located based on size, range, and threshold.

Consumer Services – Services that directly serve individuals, like retail, health care, education, and restaurants.

Concentric Zone Model (Burgess) – Urban model where cities grow in rings from the CBD outward.

De Facto Segregation – Segregation that happens by practice or fact (not law), like by income or neighborhood patterns.

Disamenity – A disadvantage or undesirable feature in an area, such as high crime or poor infrastructure.

Exurb – A distant suburb with low housing density, often where people commute into the city.

Footloose Industry – An industry not tied to location by resources or markets; can locate almost anywhere (e.g., tech companies).

Gravity Model – Predicts interaction between two places based on population size and distance.

Hinterland – The area surrounding a city that depends on it for services and trade.

Nonbasic Industries – Industries that serve the local community and do not bring money in from outside.

Primate City – A city that is more than twice as large as the next largest city and dominates the country's economy and culture.

Primate City Rule – A pattern where the largest city is disproportionately large compared to the second-largest city.

Public Services – Services provided by the government for the community (e.g., police, education, fire).

Range (of a service) – The maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

Rank-Size Rule – A country’s nth largest city is 1/n the size of the largest city; common in more developed countries.

Service – Any activity that fulfills a human want or need and is exchanged for money.

Threshold – The minimum number of people needed to support a service.

Annexation – When a city legally adds land to its territory.

Bid Rent Theory – Explains how land prices change as you move away from the CBD; land is most expensive near the center.

Blockbusting – [Repeated] See #3.

Commuter Zone – The outer ring in urban models where people live and commute to the city for work.

Density Gradient – The change in population density as you move from the center of a city outward.

Disamenity Sector – The poorest parts of a city, often without city services and dominated by informal housing.

Edge City – A large node of office, retail, and residential space located on the outskirts of a traditional city.

Entrepôt – A port city where goods are imported, stored, and exported without paying customs duties.

Filtering – The process where housing passes from high-income to lower-income occupants over time.

Food Desert – An area with limited access to affordable and nutritious food.

Gateway City – A city that serves as an entry point to a country or region (e.g., New York City for immigrants).

Gentrification – When wealthier people move into and renovate a lower-income neighborhood, often displacing original residents.

Greenbelt – A ring of land maintained as parks, agriculture, or open space to limit city sprawl.

Latin American City Model – Features a spine of development from the CBD with wealthy housing and peripheral squatter settlements.

New Urbanism – Urban design that promotes walkable neighborhoods, diverse housing, and sustainable communities.

Megalopolis/Conurbation – A large, continuous urban region made up of several cities and their suburbs (e.g., Boston to Washington, D.C.).

Megacity – A city with over 10 million residents.

Metacity – A very large city with over 20 million people, often in developing countries.

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) – A city with 50,000+ people and its surrounding suburbs that are socially and economically linked.

Micropolitan Statistical Area – An urban area with a population between 10,000–50,000 people.

Mixed-Use Zoning – An area where residential, commercial, and recreational land uses are combined.

Mixed-Use Development – A building or area that combines different uses like homes, shops, and offices in one place.

Multiple Nuclei Model (Harris & Ullman) – A model where cities grow with several centers (nuclei), not just one CBD.

Redlining – When banks refuse loans or insurance to people in certain neighborhoods, often based on race or income.

Sector Model (Hoyt) – Urban model where cities develop in wedges or sectors along transportation routes.

Smart Growth – Planning that avoids sprawl and encourages sustainable, environmentally friendly urban development.

Slow Growth Policies – Strategies that limit rapid urban growth to preserve land and infrastructure.

Southeast Asia City Model – City model with a port-based CBD and alien commercial zones, influenced by colonialism.

Urban Sprawl – Uncontrolled expansion of urban areas into rural land.

Squatter Settlement – An area within a city where people illegally establish homes and do not own the land.

Urbanization – The growth and expansion of cities as people move from rural to urban areas.

Urban Cluster – A smaller urban area with 2,500–50,000 people.

Urbanized Area – A city and its suburbs with a population of 50,000+.

Urban Realm Model – A model where suburban regions function as separate realms with their own downtowns, tied to a central city.

World Cities – Cities that are global economic and political hubs (e.g., New York, London, Tokyo).