| Term | Definition |
|---|
| European, traditional, informal | What three business districts are found in African cities? |
| agglomeration | The tendency for economic activity to concentrate. In urban areas this leads to higher land rents and costs. |
| barriadas | Squatter settlements found in the periphery of Latin American cities. |
| bid-rent theory | The cost of land decreases as the distance from the market or city center increases. |
| CBD | The heart or downtown of a city that acts as a focus of commercial, social, and civic life. |
| census tract | the census region designed to represent neighborhoods where possible |
| centrality | the degree of "economic reach" an urban area has into the surrounding area |
| centralization | People and activities concentrate into a few centers or locations |
| central-place theory | explains the number, location, size, and spacing of settlements within an urban system |
| leapfrog/checkerboard development | When housing tracts jump over parcels of farmland resulting in a mixture of open lands with built-up areas. |
| blockbusting | Rapid change in the racial composition of residential areas in American cities when real estate agents stir up fears of neighorhood decline after encouraging people or color to move into previously white neighborhoods. |
| Walter Christaller | Geographer associated with central place theory. |
| city | A conglomeration of people and buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics, culture, and economics. |
| the port | The focus of cities in Southeast Asia |
| the central plaza | The focus of cities in colonial Latin American cities |
| commercialization | The transformation of an area of a city into an area attractive to residents and tourists. |
| microdistricts | self-sufficient regions of Soviet era cities. |
| large apartment blocks | cityscape typical of Soviet era cities. |
| commuter zone (metropolitan area) | Area from which a city draws workers each day. |
| concentric zone model | A structural model of the American city that suggests land use rings arranged around a common center. |
| counterurbanization | the movement of people and industry away from major towns and cities. |
| decentralization | this occurs when businesses move away from urban areas |
| deindustrialization | this occurs in an area when jobs go towards cheaper labor elsewhere. |
| basic industries | economic activities that contribute directly to the economy by bringing money in from outside. |
| non-basic industries | businesses that provide services to basic industries. |
| edge city | A suburban area that has its own employment base (associated with decentralization) |
| emerging cities | Cities that are gaining in importance, such as Bangalore. (...or Singapore 20 years ago) |
| entrepot | a specialized port where goods are held to be shipped to the final destination later on--a "transshipment point" |
| multiple nuclei | Which basic model of urban structure reflects the settlement patterns of ethnic groups in cities. |
| favela | Brazilian shanty town |
| festival marketplace | A safe and trendy attraction intended to serve as a major catalyst for other redevelopment. (Indicative of a post-modern landscape.) |
| gateway city | An "entrance point" which functions as a break-of-bulk and transsipment point. |
| gentrification | the rehabilitation of deteriorated, often abandoned, housing of low income inner-city areas |
| ghetto | small, residential district in an urban area distinguished by the extreme concentration of an ethnic or cultural group |
| greenbelts | an area or zone of open, semi-rural surrounding a city (subject to permanent restrictions on new development) |
| high-tech corridors | Areas along or near major transportation arteries that are devoted to the research, development, and sale of technology products. (Silicon Valley is an example.) |
| hinterland | Literally "country behind"--a term that applies to a surrounding area served by an urban area |
| in-filling | the development of sites initially bypassed in the expansion of an urban area. |
| informal | that sector of the economy that operates outside official recognition and not measured by official statistics |
| infrastructure | provides the "framework" for an economy--transportation, communication, power supplies, utilities |
| inner city | a loosely defined area close to a city center--sometimes referred to as the "zone in transition." |
| invasion and succession | part of the process of urban growth that involves more intensive land uses outbidding existing use of buildings |
| lateral commuting | commuting that occurs between suburban areas rather than towards the central city. |
| megalopolis/conurbation | An overgrown urban area created by the gradual merging of several metropolitan areas |
| metropolitan area | A central city and its suburbs |
| multiple nuclei model | Major model of urban land use; observes that land use in many urban areas is built up around several outlying business districts. |
| multiplier effect | small fluctuations in one sector of the economy have a ripple effect |
| neighborhood | An area within a city that can be identified as a social unit by the face-to-face relationships between its residents. (Roughly the size of a census tract.) |
| New Town Planning/New Urbanism | Urban design that calls for walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs. |
| peak land value intersection | street intersections where land values are at their highest |
| planned communities | cities in which all aspects of development are determined before construction begins. (May be referred to as "new towns" "garden cities" or "greenbelt towns." |
| postindustrial city | A city where manufacturing has declined and the focus of the city is service industries. |
| postmodern landscape | Urban landscape characterized by festival marketplaces and an orientation towards consumerism. |
| primate city | A country's largest city--ranking atop the urban hierarchy--most expressive of the national culture and usually (but not always) the capital city as well. |
| racial steering | Practice in which real estate brokers guide prospective home buyers towards or away from certain neighborhoods based on their race or ethnicity. |
| rank-size rule | In a model urban hierarchy, the idea that the population of a city or town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy. |
| redlining | Discriminatory practice involving the demarcation by financial institutions of ares within which they will not loan money. |
| restrictive covenants | Deed restrictions that apply to a group of homes or lots in a specific subdivision or development and can include such things as size of residence allowed or landscaping features. |
| sector model | Classic model of urban structure developed on the assumption that the internal structure of a city is determined by transportation routes radiating out from the city's center. |
| segregation | The separation of sub-groups within a wider population. |
| shopping mall | Enclosed cluster of retail shops often located at a peak land value intersection. |
| slum | An area of sub-standard and overcrowded housing occupied by poverty-stricken segments of the population. |
| smart growth | Urban planning that concentrates growth in the center of a city to avoid urban sprawl. |
| social structure | The ways in which social groups arrange themselves in the city. |
| Sector | Which model of urban structure reflects income and social status of a city's inhabitants? |
| Concentric zone | Which model of urban structure tends to reflect family status? (Single, widowed, married with children?) |
| squatter settlement | a residential area in an urban locality inhabited by the very poor who have no access to tenured land of their own |
| grid street pattern | A rectangular arrangement of streets (first found in Greek cities and used later in Roman towns) |
| dendritic street pattern | street pattern characterized by fewer streets organized into a hierarchy based on the amount of traffic each is intended to carry--they form the "loop" or "lollipop" typical of urban sprawl neighborhoods. |
| Access roads | Also called feeder roads or service roads--they run parallel to a freeway and allow drivers to enter the roadway unimpeded. |
| Controlled access roads | Roads which give preference to through traffic and which allows access only at selected public roads. (There are no crossings or intersections.) |
| suburb | Outer residential parts of larger urban areas. |
| '50s and '60s | During which decades did the greatest amount of suburbanization occur in the United states. |
| tenement | a run-down and often overcrowded apartment house, esp. in a poor section of a large city. |
| theme areas | Another name for festival landscapes |
| underclass | Those who suffer from a degree of poverty from which there seems to be no escpape |
| underemployment | An individual seeking full time work is employed on a part-time basis or for part of a year only. |
| urban hearth area | area where cities first arose--river valleys in Southwest Asia. |
| urban heat island | The microclimate of a city is typically slightly warmer than the temperature of the surrounding countryside. |
| urban hierarchy | The size and spacing of towns and cities--the basis of central place theory |
| hamlet | a very small settlement that provides a few services to those living closeby. |
| village | provides basic goods and services for inhabitants and those who live in a small hinterland. |
| town | larger than a village and smaller than a city. |
| city | urban area that offers a wide variety of goods and services to a broad hinterland. |
| urban hydrology | Changes in water drainage patterns that occur in urban areas. Roads and artificial surfaces cut down infiltration and storage while storm sewers speed up the flow of water into rivers. It is suggested that urbanization increases the risk of flooding as rivers respond much more violently to a storm event. |
| urban morphology | the physical form, plan, townscapes and functional areas of cities. |
| urban sprawl | Uncontrolled growth on the urban fringe. |
| zone in transition | The ring of land uses (characterized by disinvestment) lying between the CBD and the inner ring of working-class residential areas. |
| zoning | The public regulation of land and building use to control the character of the place. |
| exurbia | a suburb that is separated from the city by open space. |
| overurbanization | a condition experienced in many LDCs in which the city grows more rapidly than the jobs an housing they can maintain. |
| shock city | A city that is seen as the embodiment of surprising and disturbing changes in economic, social, and cultural life (Such as Manchester, England during the Industrial Revolution.) |
| sustainable urban development | A vision of urban development and resource use that seeks a balance among economic growth, environmental impacts, and social equity in a manner that can be preserved for future generations. |
| urban realms | loose association of economic subregions bound together through urban freeways that tend to function semi-independently |
| urban renewal | revitalization of run down sectins of central cities. |
| world cities | cities in which disproportionate share of the world's most important business is conducted and that serve as headquarters of TNCs |
| transportation systems | What determines the size and shape of American cities? |
| distance to next settlement of the same size | What determines the size of a settlement's hinterland? |
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