(APHG) Unit 6: Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes

Boomburbs

Cities located around major metropolitan areas that see massive growth.

Class

Demographic category based on economic, social, and cultural factors

Ethnoburbs

Neighborhoods dominated by a specific ethnic group.

Greenbelts

Rural areas that are set aside to prevent development from extending too far outward.

Threshold

The minimum number of people needed to meet the needs of an industry.

Invasion and succession

Burgess's idea that the central business district would continually expand and push beyond the zones.

Slums

High-density areas of lower-class citizens who live in substandard housing

Beta world cities

Cities in the next order after alpha world cities that each have a unique feature within their region. These cities include San Francisco, United States; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Canada; Zurich, Switzerland; Brussels, Belgium; Madrid, Spain; Mexico City, Mexico; and São Paulo, Brazil.

Gamma world cities

Cities in the next order after beta world cities. These cities include Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Dallas, Houston, and Boston in the United States; Melbourne, Australia; Düsseldorf, Germany; Jakarta, Indonesia; Osaka, Japan; Caracas, Venezuela; Geneva, Switzerland; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Prague, the Czech Republic.

Alpha world cities

Cities in the second tier, which have impressive economic and political clout. These cities include Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., the United States; Frankfurt, Germany; Milan, Italy; Hong Kong, China; and Singapore.

Emerging cities

Cities that are experiencing population growth and increasing economic and political clout within their regions.

Gateway cities

Cities that connect two areas and serve as an entry point between them.

Great Cities

Cities that define not only their countries, but also countries in the region, and are the financial capitals in their region.

Primate cities

Cities that have more than twice the population of any other urban area in that country. A primate city is the most important urban area economically, politically, and culturally in its country.

Megacities

Cities that have populations of over 10 million people.

Social structure

Class structure, such as lower, middle, and upper class.

census tracts (CT)

Geographic areas with about 5,000 people on average; used to determine population for business purposes.

Hinterland

In "central place theory" the outlying towns and small communities that rely on the central city for goods and services are known as "hinterlands."

Southeast Asian City Model

McGee model. Developed by T.G McGee. The focal point of the city is the colonial port zone combined with the large commercial district that surrounds it. McGee found no formal CBD but found separate clusters of elements of the CBD surrounding the port zone: the government zone, the Western commercial zone, the alien commercial zone, and the mixed land-use zone with misc. economic activities.

Suburbs

Residential areas located on the outskirts of a central city that may possess numerous commercial and industrial enterprises.

Squatter settlements

Residential developments characterized by extreme poverty that usually exist on land just outside of cities that is neither owned nor rented by its occupants.

Tenements

Rundown apartment buildings that are minimally kept up by landlords because their value is so low.

Central Business District (CBD)

the commercial center of an urban area

Towns

Areas that consist of 50 to a few thousand people and are considered to be urban areas with a defined boundary

Brownfields

Former industrial sites that cities are now attempting to redevelop.

Non-basic industries

Secondary city-serving industries that are established after a city's basic industry.

Site

The internal characteristics of a place based on its physical features.

Edge cities

Large commercial centers that offer entertainment and shopping in the suburbs. Such cities may approach 100,000 in population.

Keno-Capitalism Model

A city model based on Los Angeles that suggests that areas are zoned off or even gated off from other zones in the city.

Multiple Nuclei Model

A city model established by Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman in 1945 suggesting that urban growth is independent of the central business district.

Sector Model (Hoyt Model)

A city model established by Homer Hoyt in 1939 that is based on class and describes social structure based on transportation systems.

Concentric Zone Model

A city model established by Robert Park, Ernest Burgess, and Roderick McKenzie suggesting that the lower classes live closest to the central business district, while the upper classes live farther out because they can afford the commute into the city to work.

Galactic City Model

A city model representing a post-industrial city in North America in which a city with growth independent of the central business district is traditionally connected to the central city by means of an arterial highway or interstate.

Post-industrial city

A city that specializes in information-based work

Zone in transition (ZIT)

A city zone that is just outside of the central business district and usually contains the slums.

Deindustrialization

A city's shift toward more specialized quaternary sector economic activities.

Underclass

A class made up of people who are excluded from the creation of wealth.

Shopping mall

A group of retail outlets that either share a roof or are connected by a set of walkways.

Urban hierarchy

A hierarchy that puts cities in ranks from small first-order cities upward to fourth-order cities, which are large, world- class cities. The higher the order of the city, the greater the sphere of influence that city possesses on a global scale.

Basic industry

A large industry that moves into a city and helps form the city

African City Model

A model depicting three CBDs with ethnic neighborhoods extending outward from them. Beyond the ethnic neighborhoods are the mining and manufacturing zones, as well as informal towns (squatter settlements).

Latin American City Model

A model that shows the characteristics of many cities in Central and South America; many of the high-income residences that extend out from the central business district are gated communities, designed to protect the residents from the crime bred by widespread urban poverty.

Gravity Model

A model that suggests that the greater the sphere of influence a city has, the greater its impact on other cities around it. To determine the degree to which two cities are related, multiply the populations and divide by the square of the distance between the cities.

Cityscape

Artwork that shows a city.

Suburbanization

A process by which a population expands from the city center to surrounding, less dense, areas.

Rank-size rule

A rule that states that the size of cities within a country will be in proportion to one another.

Underemployment

A situation that occurs when too many employees are hired and there is not enough work for all of them.

Festival landscape

A space within an urban environment that can accommodate a large number of people

Bazaar

A street market in many Islamic cities; sometimes called a suq

Dendritic

A street pattern that looks like the root system of trees, with streets that curve and meander through the city.

Grid Street System

A system in which streets run east/west and north/south, creating a grid pattern on the landscape.

Utility infrastructure

A system set in place by the government for delivery of electricity, sewer services, and Internet connectivity.

Central Place Theory

A theory established by Walter Christaller that is based on assumptions of uniform topography, equal transportation systems, and the notion that people will travel the least distance possible to meet their service needs.

Bid-rent theory

A theory suggesting that the closer to the central business district, the higher the value of the land, and that only commercial enterprises can afford the land within the central business district.

Office parks

Agglomerations with shared phone and Internet services and transportation infrastructure. Office parks allow businesses of similar structure and production to locate near each other and experience the benefits of the area's infrastructure.

Planned community

An area in which a developer plots out each house and builds an entire development from scratch.

Megalopolis

An area that links together several metropolitan areas to form one huge urban area.

Urban heat island effect

An effect of pollution and congestion that causes a city to create its own heat.

Symbolic landscape

An urban landscape that reflects the city's history and has become synonymous with the city.

Uptowns

Areas that are a mile or more away from the city center that were previously underutilized and are now filled with entertainment options.

Villages

Areas that are larger than hamlets and offer more services.

Unincorporated areas

Areas that exist on the fringes of suburbs with only a few families living there today, even though they were once considered urban areas.

Metropolises

Areas that have large populations that are usually focused around one large city.

Hamlets

Areas that may only include a few dozen people and offer limited services.

Gated communities

Communities that are gated to ensure that only the residents and their guests are allowed to enter

Cities

Large, densely populated areas that may include tens of thousands of people.

Zoning laws

Laws that determine how land and buildings can be used.

High-tech corridors

Places where microchips can be produced cheaply that use the principle of agglomeration to their benefit. High-tech corridors are instrumental in providing the world with the computer chip equipment needed to run its operations on a daily basis.

Favelas

Squatter settlements in Brazil.

Market Area

The area in which a product, urban area, or commercial outlet has influence.

Peak Land Value Intersection (PLVI)

The area with the greatest land value and commercial value.

Decentralization

The distribution of authority from a central figure or point to other sectors in the city.

Commuter zone

The fifth zone, which is an upper-class residential area, called this because of the number of people who commute either into the city or to other suburbs for work.

Centralization

The focusing of power into one authority, usually a mayor or city manager.

Market (bazaar) CBD

The large market area in African cities.

Traditional CBD

The location of the current commercial center in African cities.

Colonial CBD

The location of the former headquarters of the colonial government in African cities.

Range

The maximum distance that people are willing to go to purchase a product or partake in a service.

World Cities/ Global Cities

The most important cities as defined by Saskia Sassen, based on their economic, cultural, and political importance: New York City, London, and Tokyo.

New Urbanism

The movement to plan communities that are more walkable, rather than automobile dependent, with a diversity of jobs.

Urbanized population

The number of people living in cities.

Multiplier effect

The principle that development spurs more development.

Urbanization

The process by which people live and are employed in a city.

Counterurbanization

The process in which problems of an urban area become so great that people leave.

In-filling

The process of cities that are close to each other merging together.

Urban sprawl

The process of growth in which the second-ring suburbs grow and infringe on the surrounding rural areas.

Urban growth rates

The rates at which individual cities increase their populations.

Situation

The relationship that a particular location has with the locations around it.

Commercialization

The selling of goods and services for profit.

Commercial zoning

The system of land-use regulation for business or retail structures.

Institutional zoning

The system of land-use regulation for government structures, such as schools, courtrooms, and government offices.

Residential zoning

The system of land-use regulation for housing.

Industrial zoning

The system of land-use regulation for the production of materials.

Dispersed form of settlement

The type of settlement typical of rural areas, in which houses are far apart.

Nucleated form of settlement

The type of settlement typical of urban areas in which the settlement is closely grouped around a central area of development. Core area: The center area of development.

Catacombs

The underground area where the dead were buried for centuries beneath European cities. Such areas made the ground too unstable to support the weight of skyscrapers.

Urban hydrology

The way in which a city provides clean water to its citizens, removes dirty water, and purifies water before it is distributed back into the world's rivers and oceans.

Employment structure

The way in which most workers are employed within a city. This structure typically moves from industrial to tertiary to quaternary activities.

Greenfields

Zones where there is little development. Rush hours: When people travel to work in the morning, usually between 6 and 9 a.m., and then home again between 3:30 and 6:30 p.m.

Entrepots

a port, city, or other center to which goods are brought for import and export, and for collection and distribution.