| Term | Definition |
| Zone of Better Residences | These are professional class suburbs (white-collar neighborhoods).
These areas are low-density residential spaces.
Really took off in the post WW II era. (Suburbanization)
Traditionally dominated by WASPS. |
| gentrification | the trend of middle- and upper income Americans moving into city centers and rehabilitating much of the architecture but also replacing low-income populations, and changing the social character of certain neighborhoods |
| multi nuclei model | type of urban form wherein cities have numerous centers of business and cultural activity instead of one central place |
| concentric zone mode | model that describes urban environments as a series of rings of distinct land uses radiating out from a central core, or central business distric |
| Latin American cities | cities in Latin America that owe much of their structure to colonialism, the rapid rise of industrialization, and continual rapid increases in population |
| Megalopolis | several, metropolitan areas that were originally separate but that have joined together to form a large, sprawling urban complex |
| Exubanite | person who haas left the inner city and moved to outlying suburbs or rural areas |
| node | geographical centers activity. A large city, such as Los Angeles, has numerous nodes |
| squatter settlements | residential developments characterized by the extreme poverty that usually exist on land just outside of cities that is neither owned nor rented by its occupants |
| Situation | A place's relationship with other locations or it's relative location. |
| Islamic cities | cites in Muslim countries that owe their structure to their religious beliefs. Islamic cities contain mosques at their center and wall guarding their perimeter |
| suburb | residential communities, located outside of city centers, that are usually relatively homogenous in terms of population |
| European cities | cities that were of that retain many of the same characteristics such as extreme density of development with narrow buildings and winding roads; church centered and high walls around the city |
| world city | centers of economic, culture, and political activity that are strongly interconnected and together control the global systems of finance and commerce |
| inner city decay | those parts of large urban areas that lose significant portions of their populations as a result of change in industry or migration to suburbs. Because of these changes, the inner city loses its tax base and becomes a center of poverty |
| rank-sized rule | rule that states that the population of any given town should be inversely proportional to its rank in the country's hierarchy when the distribution of cities according to their sizes follows a certain pattern |
| Medieval cities | cities developed in Europe during the Medieval Period and that contains such unique features as extreme density of development with narrow buildings and winding streets, an ornate church that is prominently marks the city center |
| segregation | the process that results from suburbanization when affluent individuals leave the city center for homogenous suburban neighborhoods |
| primate city | a country's leading city, with a population that is disproportionately greater than other urban areas within the same country |
| Commuter Zone | Also known as country estates or Exurbs
These are generally very low residential areas.
This an area of wealthy people who own large tracts of land outside the city.
Today, these sections of the city play a major role in suburban sprawl. |
| getaway city | cities that, because of their geographic location, act as ports entry and distribution centers of large geographic areas |
| Industrial Zone | Also known as the “Zone of Transition”
Often contains factories, warehouses, rail yards, and port facilities.
It is low density commercial space.
After de-industrialization, many of these areas are now being rebuilt as festival spaces! |
| urban sprawl | the process of expansive suburban development over large areas spreading out from a city, in which the automobile provides the primary source of transportation |
| sector model | a model or urban land use that places the central business district in the middle with wedge-shape sectors radiating outwards from the center along transportation corridors |
| colonial city | cities established by colonizing empires as administrative centers. Often they were established on already existing native cities, completely overtaking their infrastructures |
| Site | The physical characteristics of a place or it's absolute location. |
| 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 coverage |
| Zone of Independent Workers | Usually working-class or blue-collar neighborhoods.
Many ethnic neighborhoods are located in this area.
These are high-density residential spaces.
Today we call these areas the inner city.
They are sometimes subject to gentrification. |
| metropolitan area | within the US, an urban area consisting of one or more whole county units, usually containing several urbanized, areas, or suburbs, that all act together as a coherent economic whole |
| Megacities | cites, mostly characteristic of the developing world, where high population growth and migration have caused them to explode in population since World War II |
| Threshold | The minimum number of people required to support a business. |
| industrial revolution | period characterized by the rapid social economic changes in manufacturing and agriculture that occurred in England during the late 18th century and rapidly diffused to other parts of the developed world |
| feudal city | cities that arose during the Middle Ages and that actually represent a time of relative stagnation in urban growth |
| Tokyo | |
| edge city | cities that are located on the outskirts of larger cities and serve many of the same functions of urban areas, but sprawling, decentralized suburban environment |
| Range | The maximum distance that people are willing to travel to gain access to a service. |
| hinterland | the market area surrounding an urban center, which that urban center serves |
| central place theory | a theory in the early 1900s that explains the size and distribution of cities in terms of competitive supply of goods and services to distribution of cities in terms of a competitive supply of goods and services to dispersed populations |
