Chapter Thirteen, Urban Patterns Flashcards
Central City
An urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent, self-governing unit known as a municipality.
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
In the US, 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.
Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA)
Any one MSA or μSA (938 as of 2018, including the 392 MSAs and the 546 μSAs). The collection of all MSAs and μSAs.
Combined Statistical Area (CSA)
Two or more contiguous CBSAs tied together by commuting pattens.
Urban Area
A dense core of census tracts, densely settled suburbs, and low-density land that links the dense suburbs with the core.
Urbanized Area
An urban area with at least 50,000 inhabitants.
Urban Cluster
An urban area with between 2,500 and 50,000 inhabitants.
Megalopolis
A collection of adjacent or overlapping metropolitan areas that merge into a continuous urban region.
Central Business District (CBD)
The area of a city where retail and office activities are located. One of the oldest districts in a city, usually at or near the original site of the settlement, often situated along a body of water.
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 in a series of sectors, or wedges, radiating out from the central business district.
Multiple Nuclei Model
A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a collection of nodes of activities.
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.
Edge Cities
The nodes of consumer and business services around the beltway.
Social Area Analysis
The study of where people of varying living standards, ethnic background, and lifestyle live within an urban area.
Census Tracts
An area delineated by the US Bureau of Census for which statistics are published; in urban areas, census tracts correspond roughly to neighborhoods.
Informal Settlement
A residential area where housing has been built on land to which the occupants have no legal claim or has not been built to the city’s standards for legal buildings. Shelters, cardboard, wood boxes, sackcloth, crushed cans. 2 hrs to walk to place of employment.
Suburb
A residential or commercial area situated within an urban area but outside the central city.
Annexation
The process of legally adding land area to a city.
Sprawl
Sprawl is the development of suburbs at relatively low density and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area. Sprawl is also fostered by the desire of some families to own large tracts of land.
Density Gradient
The number of houses per unit of land diminishes as distance from the center city increases.
Smart Growth
Legislation and regulations to limit suburban growth and preserve farmland.
Rush hour
The four consecutive 15 minute periods in the morning and evening with the heaviest volumes of traffic.
Underclass
A group in society prevented from participating in the material developments of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic disadvantages.
