Cities and Urban Land Use Patterns and Processes Part 1 Flashcards
(49 cards)
Ecumene
What the classical Greeks called the permanently inhabited portion of the earth’s surface, which is a variety of community types with a range of population densities.
Rural
Farms and villages with low concentrations of people.
Urban
Cities with high concentrations of people.
Suburbs
Primarily residential areas near cities.
Settlement
A place with a permanent human population.
Urbanization
The process of developing towns and cities. This is an ongoing process that does not end once a city is formed.
Percent Urban
An indicator of the proportion of the population that lives in cities and towns as compared to those that live in rural areas. This is a common statistic associated with regions, countries, and even continents.
Site
Describes the characteristics at the immediate location – for example, physical features, climate, labor force, and human structures.
Situation
Refers to the location of a place relative to its surroundings and its connectivity to other places.
City-State
This historically consisted of an urban center (the city) and its surrounding territory and agricultural villages. It had its own political system and functioned independently from other city-states. These communities were often raided by other groups for their wealth. As a result, defense was a primary consideration, and military leaders evolved into political rulers, or kings.
Urban Hearth
An area generally associated with defensible sites and river valleys in which seasonal floods and fertile soils allowed for an agricultural surplus.
Urban Area
Defined as a central city plus land developed for commercial, industrial, or residential purposes, and includes the surrounding suburbs.
City
A higher-density area with territory inside officially recognized political boundaries.
Metropolitan Area
Sometimes called a metro area, this is a collection of adjacent cities economically connected, across which population density is high and continuous.
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)
Another way to define a city. An MSA consists of at least 50,000 people, the county in which it is located, and adjacent counties that have a high degree of social and economic integration, or connection, with the urban core.
Micropolitan Statistical Area
Cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants (but less than 50,000), the county in which they are located, and surrounding counties with a high degree of integration.
Nodal Region
A focal point in a matrix of connections.
Social Heterogeneity
The population of cities, as compared to other areas, contains a greater variety of people.
Time-Space Compression
The reduction in the time it takes to diffuse something to a distant place, as a result of improved communications and transportation system.
Borchert’s Transportation Model
A model developed by geographer John Borchert used to describe urban growth based on transportation technology.
Pedestrian Cities
Cities shaped by the distances people could walk.
Streetcar Suburbs
Communities that grew up along rail lines.
Suburbanization
Involves the process of people moving, usually from cities, to residential areas on the outskirts of cities.
Sprawl
The rapid expansion of the spatial extent of a city. This occurs for numerous reasons: growth of suburbs, lower land costs in suburbs compared to inner cities, lower density single family housing, weak planning laws, and the continuing growth of car culture.
