Unit 6 & 7 Vocab Flashcards
Urbanization
the process of developing towns and cities
Site
describes the characteristics at the immediate location
Situation
refers to the location of a place relative to its surroundings and its connectivity to other places
City-state
consisted of an urban center and its surrounding territory and agricultural villages
-has its own political system and functioned independently from others
Urban Hearth
area generally associated with defensible sites and river valleys in which seasonal floods and fertile soils allowed for an agricultural surplus
Urban area
a central city plus the land developed for commercial, industrial, or residential purposes
Metropolitan area
a collection of adjacent cities economically connected, across which population density it high and continuous
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
consists of a city of a least 50,000 people
Micropolitan Statistical Ares
more than 10,000 people but less that 50,000 people
Time-space compression
the shrinking “time-distant”, or relative distance, between locations because of improved methods of transportation and communication
Suburbanization
involves the process of people moving, usually from cities, to residential areas on the outskirts of cities
Urban sprawl
the rapid expansion of the spatial extent of a city occurs for numerous reasons
spreads outwards
Edge Cities
nodes of economic activity that have developed in the periphery of large cities
Counter-urbanization or deurbanization
the counter-flow of urban residents leaving cities
Reurbanization
when some suburbs return to live in the city
Megacities
have a population of over 10 million people
Metacities
have a population of over 20 million people
Megalopolis
a chain of connected cities
World Cities
cities that exert influence far beyond their national boundaries
Urban hierarchy
ranking, based on influence or population size
Rank-size rule
states that nth largest city in any region will be 1/n the size of the largest city
Primate city
if the largest city in an urban system is more than twice as large as the next largest city
Central Place
the distance people go to receive goods and services
Threshold
the size of population needs for any particular service to exist and remain profitable
Range
the distance people will go to obtain specific goods or services
Market area
or zone that contains people who will purchase goods or services, surrounds each central place
Functional zonation
the idea that portions of an urban area - regions, or zones within a city - have specific and distinct purposes
Central business district (CBD)
the commercial heart of a city
Zoning Ordinances
regulations that define how property in specific geographic regions may be used
Disamenity zones
area not connected to city services and under the control of criminals
Squatter settlements
the periphery of cities often consists of densely populated informal settlements
Residential density gradient
as one moves farther from the inner city, pop. and housing-unit density declines, and types of housing changes
Filtering
houses pass from one social group to another
Urban infill
the process of increasing the residential density of an area by replacing open spaces and vacant housing with residences
Infrastructure
the facilities and systems that serve a population
Municipal
the local government of a city or town and the services it provides
Smart-Growth policies
to combat urban sprawl and create a new visions for cities that are more sustainable and equitable
Greenbelts
areas of undeveloped land around an urban area, have been created to limit a city’s growth and preserve farmland
Slow-growth cities
adopts policies to slow the growth outwards of urban areas and place limits on building permits in order to encourage a denser, more compact city
New urban design
to put smart growth policies into action
Livability
a set of principals that supports sustainable urban designs
Census tracts
contiguous geographic region that functions as the foundation of a census
Census block
in a densely populated urban area is often very small, consisting of a single block bounded by four streets
Redlining
the process by which banks refuse loans to those who want to purchase and improve properties in certain urban areas
Blockbusting
when people of an ethnic groups sold their houses upon learning that members of another ethnic group were moving into the neighborhood
Inclusionary zoning
practices offer incentives for developers to set aside a percentage of housing for low-income renters or buyers
Gentrification
the process of converting an urban inner-city neighborhood from a mostly low-income, renter-occupied area to a predominately wealthier, owner-occupied area of a city
Zones of abandonment
areas of a city that have been deserted by their owners for either economic or environmental reasons
Suburban sprawl
the rapid spread of development outwards from the inner city
Brownfield
consists of dilapidated buildings and polluted or contaminated soils
Urban redevelopment
involved renovating a site within a city by removing the existing landscape and rebuilding from the group up
Industry
the process of using machines and large-scale processes to convert raw materials into manufactured goods
Cottage industries
small home-based businesses that made goods
Deindustrialize
a process of decreasing reliance on manufacturing jobs
Quaternary sector
managing and processing information
Quinary
creating information and making high-level decisions
Multiplier effect
the potential of a job to produce additional jobs
Agglomeration economies
the spatial grouping of several businesses to share costs
Bulk-reducing industry
an item that loses bulk as it is processed
Bulk-gaining industry
an item that gains bulk as it is processed
Break of bulk
the procedure of transferring cargo from one mode of transportation to the another
Containerization
the system in which goods are loaded into a standardized shipping unit
Footloose
meaning they can pick up and leave for a new location quickly and easily
Formal Sector
the portion of the economy that is monitored by the government, so people in it follow regulations and pay taxes
Informal Sector
the portion of the economy that is not monitored by the government
Gross National Product (GNP)
is the value of all finished goods and services owned by a country’s citizens, whether or not those goods are produced in that country
Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
the dollar amount of all final goods and services produced within a country in one year
Gross National Income (GNI)
the dollar amount of all goods and services produced by a country’s citizens in one year
regardless of the location where the money is made
Per capita
per person
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)
a measure of what similar goods cost in different countries
Gini coefficient
the higher the number, the higher the degree of inequality
Gender Inequality Index (GII)
a composite measure of several factors indicating gender disparity
the lower the better
Human Development Index
combines GNI per capita with life expectancy, expected years of schooling, and average years of schooling
The higher the better
Rostow’s Model criticisms
-limited examples
-role of exploitation
-bias toward progress
-lack of variation
-lack of sustainability
-need for poorer countries
-narrow focus
Wallerstein’s world systems theory criticisms
-little emphasis on culture
-emphasis on industry
-lack of explanation
-limited roles
Commodity dependence
when more than 60% of its exports are raw materials
Comparative advantage
the ability to produce a good or service at a lower cost than others
Complementarity
when a country has the income, goods, or services that the another country desires
Neoliberal policies
a set of reforms that reduced government regulations and taxation
Trading blocs
groups of countries that agree to a common set of trade rules
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
created to aid countries caught in need of financial assistance
Outsourcing
contracting work to noncompany employees or other companies
Offshoring
as with multinational manufacturing companies, some tertiary and quaternary sector companies move their back offices to other countries
Basic economic activity
actions that create new wealth for a region
needed to grow an economy
Non-basic economic activity
actions that do not generate new money for the area, instead it allow for the recirculation of the existing money in the area
Export-processing zones (EPZs)
special manufacturing zones
offer foreign corporations major tax savings, inexpensive labor, fewer environmental regulations, well-serviced industrial sites, and proximity to good transportation networks that allow for easy delivery of raw materials and shipping of finished products
Postindustrial economy
one that no longer employs large numbers of people in factories but has people who provide services and process information
Fordism
The use of assembly lines allows companies to rapidly produce more standardized products and with less-skilled works that ever before
Post-Fordist
the remaining workers are often trained to do more than one job, so they can rotate among a few different workstations during a day, reducing the risk of injuries
Locational interdependence
the location decisions for one factory is dependent upon the location of other related factories
Technopole
a hub for information-based industry and high-tech manufacturing
Ecotourism
travel to a region by people who are interested in its distinctive and unusual ecosystem
