Urban Flashcards
(40 cards)
Beaux arts
the movement within city planning and urban design that stressed marriage of older, classical forms with newer, industrial ones. Common characteristics of this period include wide thoroughfares, spacious parks, and civic monuments that stressed progress, freedom and national unity.
action space
the geographical area that contains the space an individual interacts with on a daily basis
blockbusting
As early as 1900, real estate agents and developers encouraged affluent white property owners to sell their homes and businesses at a loss by stoking fears that their neighborhoods were being overtaken by racial or ethnic minorities.
central business district
the downtown or nucleus of a city where retail stores, offices, and cultural activities are concentrates; building densities are usually quite high; and transportation systems converge.
central place theory
formulated by Walter Christaller in the early 1900’s that explains the size and distribution of cities in terms of a competitive supply of goods and services to dispersed populations.
City Beautiful Movement
movement in environmental design that drew directly from the beaux arts school. Architects from this movement strove to impart order on hectic, industrial centers by creating urban spaces that conveyed a sense of morality and civic pride, which many feared was absent from the frenzied new industrial world.
Colonial city
cities established by colonizing empires as administrative centers. Often they were established on already existing native cities, completely overtaking their infrastructures.
concentric zone model
model that describes urban environments as a series of rings of the same functions of urban areas, but in a sprawling, decentralized suburban environment.
European cities
Cities in Europe that were mostly developed during the Medieval Period and that retain many of the same characteristics such as extreme density development with marrow buildings and winding streets, an ornate church that prominently marks the city center, and high walls surrounding the city center that provided defense against attack.
exurbanite
person who has left the inner city and moved to outlying suburbs or rural areas.
Feudal city
cities that arose during the Middle Ages that actually represent a time of relative stagnation in urban growth. This system fostered a dependent relationship between wealthy landowners and peasants who worked their land, providing very little alternative economic opportunities.
forward capital
a capital city placed in a remote or peripheral area for economic, strategic or symbolic reasons
gateway city
cities, that, because of their geographic location, act as ports of entry and distribution centers for large geographic areas.
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.
Ghettoization
A process occurring in many inner cities in which they become dilapidated centers of poverty, as affluent whites move out to the suburbs and immigrants and people of color vie for scarce jobs and resources.
Great Migration
An early 20th century mass movement of African Americans from the Deep South to the industrial North, particularly Chicago.
hinterland
the market area surrounding an urban center, which that urban center serves.
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.
Islamic Cities
Cities in Muslim countries that owe their structure to their religious beliefs. Islamic cities contain mosques at their center and walls guarding their perimeter. Open-air markets, courtyards surrounded by high walls, and dead-end streets, which limit foot traffic in residential neighborhoods, also characterize
Latin American cities
owe much of their structure to colonialism, the rapid rise of industrialization and continual rapid increases in population. Similar to other colonial cities, they also demonstrate distinctive sectors of industrial or residential development radiating out from the central business district, where most industrial and financial activity occurs.
Megacities
Cities, mostly characteristic of the developing world, where high population growth and migration have caused them to explode in population since WWII. All Megacities are plagued by chaotic and unplanned growth, terrible pollution and widespread poverty.
Megalopolis
Several, metropolitan areas that were originally separate but that have joined together to form a large, sprawling urban complex.
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.
Modern architecture
point of view, wherein cities and buildings are thought to act like well ioled machines, with very little energy spent on frivolous details and ornate designs. Efficient, geometrical structures made of concrete and glass dominated urban forms for half a century while this view prevailed.
