Unit 6: Cities Flashcards
Blockbusting
A practice in which real estate agents illegally convince homeowners, mainly whites, to sell their property because of the fear that other minorities will move in and lower property values
Ex: Contributed to white flight
Brownfield
Former industrial sites in urban communities that have fallen into disuse and decay.
Ex: Rust Belt of US
Central Business District
The downtown or nucleus of a city where retail stores, offices, and cultural activities are concentrated; building densities are usually quite high; and transportation systems converge.
Ex: All US models are centered around it
Central Place Theory
A theory that explains the distribution of services, based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services; larger settlements are fewer and farther apart than smaller settlements and provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel farther.
Ex: Larger cities in Texas attract more business services and have larger ranges of services, whereas smaller cities often feed into the larger ones.
Burgess Concentric Zone Model
Model that describes urban environments as a series of rings radiating out from a central core, or central business district.
Ex: Chicago
Disamenity Sector
The very poorest parts of cities that in extreme cases are not even connected to regular city services and are controlled by gangs or drug lords.
Ex: Also known as barrios in Spanish-speaking countries or favelas in Brazil
Edge Cities
A large node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area.
Ex: Tysons Corner to DC
Food desert
Urban neighborhoods and rural towns without ready access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. Instead of supermarkets and grocery stores, these communities may have no food access or are served only by fast food restaurants and convenience stores that offer few healthy, affordable food options.
Ex: Detroit and New York are common for these
Gentrification
A process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class owner-occupied area.
Ex: New York City is constantly changing to maintain its reputation
Greenbelt
A ring of land maintained as parks, agriculture, or other types of open space to limit the sprawl of an urban area.
Ex: The Highline in New York City
Metropolitan Statistical Area
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
Ex: Dallas to Fort Worth area
Multiple Nuclei Model
Type of urban form wherein cities have numerous centers of business and cultural activity instead of one central place.
Ex: Chicago
New Urbanism
A movement in urban planning to promote mixed use commercial and residential development and pedestrian friendly, community orientated cities. New urbanism is a reaction to the sprawling, automobile centered cities of the mid twentieth century
Ex: Against urban sprawl
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
Ex: Chicago
Primate City
A country’s leading city, with a population that is disproportionately greater than other urban areas within the same country.
Ex: London, Paris, Tokyo
Rank-Size Rule
A pattern of settlements in a country, such that the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.
Ex: Los Angeles is about half the size of New York
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. The practice’ name started with the red lines depicted on maps used by real estate agents
Ex: Still present in some more discreet forms
Shantytowns
Unplanned slum development on the margins of cities, dominated by crude dwellings and shelters made mostly of scrap wood, iron, and even pieces of cardboard.
Ex: Cape Town
Squatter Settlement
An area within a city in a less developed country in which people illegally establish residences on land they do not own or rent and erect homemade structures.
Ex: Often occur near primate cities
Urban Renewal
Program in which cities identify blighted inner-city neighborhoods, acquire the properties from private members, relocate the residents and businesses, clear the site, build new roads and utilities, and turn the land over to private developers.
Urban Sprawl
The process of urban areas expanding outwards, usually in the form of suburbs, and developing over fertile agricultural land.
Ex: After World Wars
World City
Centers of economic, culture, and political activity that are strongly interconnected and together control the global systems of finance and commerce. They often compete to have more influence through hosting global events like the Olympics.
Ex: London, Paris
Zone in Transition
The second ring of the concentric zone model, which surrounds the CBD.
Ex: typically contains industry and poor-quality housing
Zoning Laws
Legal land restrictions that dictate how property owners can and cannot use their land
Ex: Often restrict the types of building and economic activities that can happen
Boomburbs
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
Gravity Model
places that are larger and closer together will have greater interaction than places that are smaller and farther away from each other
Megacity
Population between 10-20 million
Ex: New York
Metacity
Population 20+ million
Ex: Tokyo
Site
the actual physical qualities of the place that a city occupies which can influence origin, function, and growth
Situation
the relative location of a city (what is it near) which can influence origin, function, and growth
African City Model
a spatial city model that is difficult to formulate due to the imprint of
European colonialism, but often consists of a colonial CBD as well as
a traditional CBD, and a market zone that is surrounded by squatter settlements
Bid-rent theory
theory that shows what various land users are prepared and able to pay for access to the center market
Usually land closer to the market is more expensive
Galactic City (Peripheral) Model
a spatial model in which American urban areas consist of a central city surrounded by a large suburban area, shopping malls, office parks, industrial areas, and service complexes tied together by a beltway, or ring road
Harris/Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model
a spatial model that shows the mid 20th century American city consisting of
several land-use zones (nodes) arranged around a CBD
Latin American City Model
a spatial city model that includes a prestigious, commercial axis (spine)
which emanates outward from the CBD and is surrounded by
a peripheral area containing squatter settlements
Southeast Asian City Model
a spatial city model that includes an old colonial port zone that is the
focal point of the city reflecting a city oriented around exports, and
radiating outward from the port zone are the Western commercial zone
and Alien commercial zone
Environmental injustice
disproportionate exposure to communities of color and the poor to pollution and its effects on health and the environment
Fragmentation of government
refers to the way governmental institutions are dispersed between many local agencies including state, county, city and neighborhood levels
Mixed Land Use
land development that blends a combination of residential, commercial, cultural, institutional and/or industrial uses
Often requires special zoning to allow this
Slow Growth Cities
Policies that use zoning laws to decrease the rate of sprawl (ex: greenbelts)
Smart-growth cities
urban planning that avoids urban sprawl and focuses on long term implications with sustainable design initiatives and guides development into more convenient patterns and into areas where infrastructure allows growth to be sustained over the long term
Threshold
Minimum number of people needed to support a service, therefore deciding where the service will be located
transportation-oriented development
A mixed-use residential and commercial area designed to maximize access to public transport, and often incorporates features to encourage transit ridership.
de facto segregation
Indirect segregation that occurs because of social and economic differences, NOT by laws
Can be caused by smart growth
land tenure
the rules and arrangements connected with owning land, especially land that is used for farming
affects women as many are denied land tenure in some countries
