UNIT 6 REVIEW HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

3 Characteristics of Urban Hearths

-agricultural surplus: irrigation, farming improvements domestication

-social stratification: a permanent leadership class or urban elite

-job specialization: craftsmen, soldiers, officials, scribes, religious leaders

(6.1)

Industrial Revolution’s Impact on Cities

-urban population growth boomed

-transportation improved

-increased availability of services

-governments encouraged urbanization (6.1)

Site

the exact location of a city on a map; the physical character of a place

EX characteristics: climate, water sources, energy sources, barriers to invasion, climate (6.1)

Situation

the surrounding features, both man-made and natural; the location of a place relative to another place (6.1)

Urbanization

the process of developing towns and cities; an ongoing process that does not end when the city is formed (6.1)

Suburbanization

the process of people moving, usually from cities, to residential areas on the outskirts of cities; typically the suburban communities are connected to the city for jobs and services, but are often less densely populated (6.1)

Urban/Suburban/Rural

urban– cities with high concentrations of people

suburban– primarily residential areas near cities

rural– farms and villages with low concentrations of people (6.1)

Percent Urban

statistic used to indicate the proportion of the population that lives in cities and towns compared to those that live in rural areas; typically broken down on a national scale of analysis (6.1)

Municipality

one way of referring to the political and legal aspect of a city (6.1)

Metropolitan Area

the city and adjacent cities, also referred to as the “metro” (6.1)

Reurbanization

when suburbanites return to live in the city (6.1)

Satellite City

when an established town near a very large city grows into a city independent of the larger one (6.1)

Gravity Model

places that are larger and closer will have a greater interaction than places that are smaller and farther away from each other; can be used to predict the flow of workers, shoppers, vacationers, mail, migrants, and nearly anything that flows into and between cities (6.1)

Rank-Size Rule

describes one way in which the size of cities in a region may develop in relation to one another

FORMULA: the nth largest city in any region will be 1/n the size of the largest city (6.1)

Primate City

if the largest city in a state is more than twice as large as the next largest city, the largest city is said to be this

EX: London, Mexico City, Asmara (6.1)

Forward Capital

a symbolically relocated capital city usually because of either economic or strategic reasons, like dispersing power

EX: Washington DC, USA; Brasilia, Brazil; Abuja, Nigeria (6.1)

Megacities

the world’s largest cities whose population exceeds 10 million

examples on map (6.1)

Metacities

describes groups of large cities that merge and have a total population exceeding 20 million residents

EX: the Bos-Wash Corridor (east coast of US); Tokyo-Yokohama; Coastal California; Jing-Jin-Ji (Beijing, Tianjin, HeBei) (6.1)

World Cities

cities that exert influence far beyond their national boundaries

examples on chart (6.1)

Central Place (Theory)

a location where people go to receive goods and services; varies in size from tiny community to major city; market area is depicted as surrounding hexagon (6.2)

Threshold

part of Central Place Theory; the size of a population necessary for any particular service to exist and remain profitable; think minimum distance required

low threshold places– gas stations, convenience stores, fast food joints

medium threshold places– restaurants, hospitals, high schools, department stores

high threshold places– stock market exchanges, sports teams, symphony orchestras (6.2)

Range

part of Central Place Theory; the distance people will travel to obtain specific goods or services; think maximum distance required (6.2)

Functional Zonation

the idea that portions of an urban area have distinct and specific purposes, sometimes specified with zoning ordinances

3 categories: residential, commercial, and industrial (6.2)

Central Business District (CBD)

a vital part of any urban model often located near the physical center and is the commercial heart of the city; high property values; often called “downtown” (6.2)

Heavy Manufacturing

industry that is expensive and requires heavy machinery, large buildings, large machine tools, and a large investment to create and maintain; often create high levels of pollution

EX: coal, oil, steel, shipping (6.2)

Light Manufacturing

industry that does not need as much land or investment; usually sold directly to a consumer

EX: clothing, shoes, furniture, electronics (6.2)

Residential Density Gradient

as one moves from the inner city, population density declines along with the density of housing units (6.2)

Disamenity Zones

the poorest areas of a city; often the location of slums, not connected to traditional urban infrastructure, and are prevalent in gang activity (6.2)

Squatter Settlements

an informal housing area beset with overcrowding and poverty that features temporary homes often made of wood scraps or metal sheeting

AKA favelas, barrios, shantytowns, slums (6.2)

Bid-Rent Theory

attempts to explain land-use patterns as distance grows to the CBD; commercial development is willing to pay more for land, followed by industry, warehousing, and then residential (6.2)

Latin American Urban Model

(6.2)

African City Urban Model

(6.2)

Southeast Asian City

(6.2)

Burgess Concentric Zone Urban Model

(6.2)

Galactic City Urban Model

(6.2)

Multiple Nuclei Urban Model

(6.2)

Hoyt Sector Urban Model

(6.2)

Filtering

when houses pass from one social group to another; usually occurs when the wealthiest move to new homes and people with less wealth move into the home they leave, or when a single family house is subdivided for use by two or more families (6.3)

Gated Communities

neighborhoods that are planned in order to control access and aesthetics within the community, for residents that are seeking safety, quiet, and homogeneity

EX: Loch Lloyd in photo (6.3)

Edge City

a node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area (6.3)

Boomburb

a suburb that has grown rapidly into a large and sprawling city on its own with more than 100,000 residents (6.3)

Gentrification

the process of wealthier residents moving into a neighborhood and making significant improvements to the buildings and infrastructure (6.3)

Informal Economy

the portion of the economy that is not taxed, regulated, or managed by the government; important, effective, and vibrant in slums and squatter settlements; prevalent in areas where the government has been ineffective at promoting the growth of businesses

informal economy in a more developed state can be called the shadow economy as well (6.3)

Smart Growth

policies that preserve farmland and undeveloped spaces near a city (6.3)

Urban Infill

the process of building up underused lands in the city, like brownfields, unused airports, and closed military bases; the opposite of leapfrog development and urban sprawl (6.3)

Slow Growth

slowing the growth of a city as a way to limit the problems associated with growth and improve sustainability (6.3)

New Urbanism

urban planning movement that emerged in the 1990s which uses many of the ideas of smart growth (increasing walkability, affordable housing, vibrance, growth, etc) (6.3)

Greenbelt

a ring of parkland, agricultural land, or other type of open space maintained around an urban area to limit sprawl and pollution

EX cities with greenbelts: Chicago, San Francisco, Ontario (pictured), London (6.3)

Exurbanism

the flow of residents leaving the cities to a farther extent than suburbs, typically for affordable, quiet life; also called counter-urbanism or deurbanization (6.3)

Brownfields

areas filled with abandoned factories, dilapidated buildings, and contaminated soil; expensive to repair/remove and devalue neighboring properties (6.4)

Redlining

the process by which banks refuse loans to those who want to purchase and improve properties in certain urban areas (6.4)

Blockbusting

when one ethnic group, usually middle-class white people, would be frightened into selling their homes at low prices when they hear that another ethnic group is moving into an neighborhood, typically done by real estate agents and investors for profit; cause of white flight (6.4)

Eminent Domain

laws that allow governments to seize land for public use after paying market value for the property, typically to build new roads or schools, or sell the land to private businesses who will build hotels, hospitals, or other developments (6.4)

Housing Projects

public housing developments that were built in areas of the inner city where housing was unavailable; often associated with crime, drugs, and poor maintenance (6.4)

NIMBY Movement

“not in my backyard;” movement against programs and infrastructure that help the impoverished out of fear of reduced property values and crime (6.4)

Food Desert

an area where residents have limited or no access to fresh, healthy food because of inadequate transportation; a common issue in both urban and rural communities due to grocery stores’ favor for suburban locations with wealthier residents, cheaper property, and ability to pave vast parking lots (6.4)

Urban Sprawl

when cities expand horizontally (more land mass) due to availability of automobiles, highways, and inexpensive land outside the urban area (6.4)

Urban Canyons

streets lined with tall buildings can channel and intensify winds, as well as prevent sunlight from reaching the ground (6.4)

Impermeability

buildings, streets, and parking lots do not allow water to soak into the ground, which can cause flooding; the ground is impermeable due to concrete (6.4)

Urban Heat Islands

the concentration of buildings can raise the temperature in the core of a city (6.4)