Affluent

Having a great deal of money; wealthy.

Annexation

The action of taking over something, especially territory.

Bid Rent Theory

Geographic economic theory that describes how land price and land use change as the distance from the central business district increases.

Blockbusting

The practice of persuading owners to sell property cheaply because of the fear of people of another race or class moving into the neighborhood, and thus profiting by reselling at a higher price.

Borchert’s Transportation Epochs

A model describing the growth of urban areas based on transportation technology.

Boomburbs

A rapidly growing city in the United States that remains essentially suburban in character.

Brownfields

Previously developed land that is not currently in use that may be potentially contaminated.

Burgess Concentric Zone Model

A model of urban land use where different social groups are arranged in a series of concentric circles.

Central Business District (CBD)

The commercial and business center of a city.

Central City

The main city within a metropolitan area.

Christaller’s 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.

Decentralization

The movement of people and jobs from the central city to the suburbs.

Density Gradient

The change in density in an urban area from the center to the periphery.

Disamenity Zones

The very poorest parts of cities that in extreme cases are not connected to regular city services and are controlled by gangs or drug lords.

Edge City

A concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown.

Ethnic Segregation

The spatial separation of different ethnic groups within an urban area.

Exurbs

A district outside a city, especially a prosperous area beyond the suburbs.

Filtering

The process of change in the use of a house, from single-family owner occupancy to abandonment.

Food Deserts

An area where healthy, affordable food is difficult to obtain.

Galactic City Model

A model of urban areas describing the post-industrial city consisting of a decentralized periphery of economic activities.

Gentrification

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

Gravity Model

A model stating that the potential use of a service at a particular location is directly related to the number of people in a location and inversely related to the distance people must travel to reach the service.

Greenbelt

A ring of land maintained as parks, agriculture, or other types of open space to limit the sprawl of an urban area.

Hoyt Sector Model

A model of urban land use where different social groups are arranged in sectors radiating out from the central business district.

Harris-Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model

A model of urban land use where a city consists of multiple centers around which activities revolve.

Hinterland

The market area surrounding an urban center, which that urban center serves.

Inclusionary Zoning

Zoning regulations that create incentives or requirements for affordable housing development.

Infilling

The process of building on vacant or undeveloped land within an urban area.

Informal 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.

Infrastructure

The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

Interdependence

The dependence of countries on each other for goods, resources, knowledge, and labor.

Market Area

The area surrounding a service from which customers are attracted.

Megacities

A very large city, typically with a population of more than 10 million people.

Megalopolis

A continuous urban complex in the northeastern United States.

Metacities

The linking of megacities via high-speed transport and critical infrastructure.

Metropolitan

A region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing.

Mixed-Use

Property that includes both commercial and residential uses.

New Urbanism

A planning and development approach based on the principles of walkable, mixed-use neighborhoods.

Law of the Primate City

A pattern of settlements in a country such that the largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

Range

The maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

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.

Services

Any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it.

Site

The physical character of a place.

Situation

The location of a place relative to other places.

Slow-Growth Cities

Cities that have implemented policies to consciously regulate the rate and type of growth.

Sprawl

Development of new housing sites at relatively low density and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area.

Smart Growth

Legislation and regulations to limit suburban sprawl and preserve farmland.

Suburbanization

A population shift from central urban areas into suburbs.

Sustainable Development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Threshold

The minimum number of people needed to support a service.

Transportation-Oriented Development

Development that encourages dense, walkable, mixed-use development near transit hubs.

Urban Blight

The deterioration of part of a town or city due to ageing, neglect, and lack of financial support for maintenance.

Urban Cluster

A densely populated area with a population between 2,500 and 49,999.

Urban Hierarchy

A ranking of settlements according to their size and economic importance.

Urban Renewal

The clearing and rebuilding of urban slums.

Urban Revolution

The process by which agricultural villages transformed into urban societies.

Urbanization

An increase in the percentage of the number of people living in urban settlements.

Wallerstein’s World Theory

A model that describes how economic power is distributed among countries in the world.

World Cities

A city heavily involved in global trade.

Zones of Abandonment

Areas where lack of jobs, big declines in land value, and falling demand cause properties to become abandoned.

Zoning Ordinance

A written regulation and law that defines how property in specific geographic zones can be used.

Favela

A shantytown or slum, especially in Brazil.