Human Geo Unit 9vocab

Borchert's Epoch

1) The Sail-Wagon Epoch, 1790-1830, when trade took place by ships across the sea or along coastlines, or by wagons overland. The technologies determined job opportunities of people that came to work in cities. 2) The Iron-Horse Epoch, 1830-1870, when railroad technology changed the nature of trade and employment. 3) The Steel-Rail Epoch, 1870-1920, when the steel industry transformed urban America and job opportunities of workers. 4) The Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch, 1920s-1960s, when the internal combustion engine came to dominate life styles, employment opportunities, and the economic base of cities

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.

Redlining

A process by which banks draw lines on a map and refuse to lend money to purchase or improve property within the boundaries.

Gentrification

A process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class owner-occupied area.

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.

Four functions of cities

Centers of power - Cities were often the headquarters for early heads of state. • Religious centers - Priests, temples, and shrines were generally located in cities. • Economic centers - Most cities had markets for trade, with wealthy merchants, land and livestock owners, and traders operating and living in urban areas. • Educational centers - City residents included teachers and philosophers to educate new generations of the urban elite.

Smart Growth

Legislation and regulations to limit suburban sprawl and preserve farmland.

Burgess' Concentric Zone model

Model divides the city into five concentric zones, defined by their functions

New Urbanism

Outlined by a group of architects, urban planners, and developers from over 20 countries, an urban design that calls for development, urban revitalization, and suburban reforms that create walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs.

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.

First Urban Revolution

The innovation of the city, and it occurred independently in six separate hearths, a case of independent innovation.

Urban sprawl

The process of urban areas expanding outwards, usually in the form of suburbs, and developing over fertile agricultural land.

Situation

The situation of a city is based on its role in the larger, surrounding context

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.

Megacity

metropolises in the world had populations of more than 10 million, earning them the title, "megacities," Tokyo, Mexico city, Sao pulo

Edge Cities

often located near key freeway intersections, these suburban downtowns developed mainly around big regional shopping centers and attracted industrial parks

Infrastructure

refers to all the facilities that support basic economic activities to such a degree that a city cannot function without them. Structures that specialize in support activities include banks, post offices, hotels, cable networks, television and radio stations, and other communications companies

Blockbusting

when real estate agents would seek to sell a house in a white neighborhood to an African American for a very low price, and then use scare tactics to try to get white neighbors to sell.

Manufacturing city

where factories attracted laborers from rural areas and other countries to tenements constructed to provide housing for factory workers

System of Cities

This sub-field focuses on where cities are located and why they are there, including such topics as current and historical distribution of cities, the functions of cities, and reasons for differential growth among cities. This study takes an external view of how cities influence the landscape around them, how they connect to one another, and how they are distributed nationally and globally.

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.

Ghettoization

Where forced segregation limits residential choices, ethnic or racial minorities may be confined to the older, low-cost housing areas typically close to the city center

World city

World cities exist all over the globe, but the three that serve as the largest regional centers are London, New York, and Tokyo. All three house important stock exchanges and contain major concentrations of business services, and all are characterized by a polarized social structure with larger than usual numbers of the wealthy on one end and the very poor on the other end

Primate city

a country's leading city, always disproportionately large and exceptionally expressive of national capacity and feeling

Zoning ordinances/laws

century, encourage spatial separation by preventing mixing of land uses within the same district

Mercantile city

A city in which a central square became the focus of the city flanked by royal, religious, public, and private buildings: streets leading to such squares formed the beginnings of a downtown

Central Business District

A concentration of business and commerce in the cityś downtown

Site

location

urban hierarchy

• Hamlet - A hamlet is a small cluster of farmers' houses with perhaps a few basic services, such as a gas station, a general store, or a coffee shop. • Village - This next smallest urban settlement is likely to offer several dozen services that are more specialized than those of a hamlet. Stores sell only certain goods (as opposed to "general stores") and gas stations may sell competing brands of gasoline. • Town - A town is not only larger than a village, its structures have more specialized functions. It may have a bank, a post office, a hospital, schools, and a library. A town also has a hinterland, or a surrounding area of smaller villages and hamlets that are economically dependent on it. People that live in the hinterland depend on the town for these services, and may also work in town. • City - A city has a larger population, more functional specialization, larger hinterlands, and greater centrality than a town. Whereas towns often have clustering of businesses as well as outskirts, cities have well-defined central business districts (CBD), as well as suburbs that may also have their own commercial centers or shopping malls. • Megalopolis - Multiple cities that have grown together form the highest level of the urban hierarchy - the megalopolis. For example, a megalopolis spreads on the east coast of the United States from Boston to beyond Washington, D.C., the so-called Bosnywash megalopolis.