urban environment

Question 1

Agglomeration

Answer 1

The concentration of people and their activities at certain locations

Question 2

Brownfield site

Answer 2

Land that has been used, abandoned and now awaits some new use. Commonly found in urban areas, particularly in the inner city.

Question 3

business park

Answer 3

A purpose-built area of offices and warehouses, often at the edge of a city and on a main road.

Question 4

congestion

Answer 4

When there is too great a volume of traffic for roads to cope with, so traffic jams form and traffic slows to a crawl.

Question 5

core

Answer 5

The most important economic, political and social area of a country or global region

Question 6

Deprivation

Answer 6

When people lack what the rest of society considers ‘normal’ such as good housing, reasonable incomes or access to healthcare

Question 7

Environmental quality

Answer 7

The degree to which an area is free from pollution.

Question 8

ethnic group

Answer 8

A group of people sharing the same characteristics of race, nationality,
language or religion

Question 9

greenfield site

Answer 9

A plot of land, often in a rural or on the edge of an urban area that has not yet been subject to any building development

Question 10

inner city

Answer 10

That part of the built‐up area and close to the CBD, often characterised by old
housing, poor services and brownfield sites

Question 11

land use

Answer 11

What types of buildings / economic activities exist in an area such as
residential, retail or industrial

Question 12

land value

Answer 12

The market value of a piece of land; what businesses or individuals are
prepared to pay for it (or rent it).

Question 13

Periphery

Answer 13

An area remote or isolated from the centre (core) of a country; it generally lags in terms of development and influence.

Question 14

planner

Answer 14

A decision‐maker whose job it is to decide how to use land e.g. where to build roads, or houses. Planners often decide to conserve areas such as Greenfield
sites by not allowing development.

Question 15

Physical infrastructure

Answer 15

The services, such as transport, telecommunications, water and sewage disposal, that are vital for people and businesses

Question 16

Rebranding

Answer 16

Regeneration that also tries to give an area a new image. Rebranded areas often have names and logos e.g. MediaCityUK in Salford

Question 17

Retail complex

Answer 17

A purpose-built area for shopping (and often leisure), such as an out of town shopping centre or retail park.

Question 18

Self‐help (housing)

Answer 18

When people in shanty towns / squatter settlements gradually improve their own housing and surroundings. Often, they are helped by an NGO.

Question 19

service
provision

Answer 19

Making available commercial and social services, such as shops and
schools.

Question 20

Shanty town

Answer 20

An area of makeshift and unsanitary housing, often occupied by squatters (no legal right to occupy)

Question 21

Socio‐economic
group

Answer 21

A group of people distinguished by employment, income and social
characteristics such as education and family status.

Question 22

Social deprivation

Answer 22

The degree to which an individual or an area is deprived of services, decent housing, adequate income and local employment

Question 23

Suburbanisation

Answer 23

The spread of low density, often detached or semi‐detached, housing
around the edges of a city or town

Question 24

Urbanisation

Answer 24

The process of becoming more urban, mainly through more and more people living in towns and cities

Question 25

urban fringe

Answer 25

The outer edge of a town or city where the built-up area gives way to
countryside

Question 26

Urban regeneration

Answer 26

The revival of old parts of the built‐up area by either installing modern
facilities in old buildings (known as renewal) or opting for redevelopment (ie
demolishing all existing buildings and starting afresh).