Human Geography: Chapter 8

Front 1

Action space

Back 1

The geographical area that contains the space an individual interacts with on a daily basis.

Front 2

Beaux arts

Back 2

This movement within city planning and urban design that stressed the 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.

Front 3

Central place theory

Back 3

A theory formulated by Walter Christaller in the early 1900s that explains the size and distribution of cities in terms of a competitive supply of goods and services to dispersed populations.

Front 4

City Beautiful movement

Back 4

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.

Front 5

Colonial city

Back 5

Cities established by colonizing empires as administrative centers. Often they were established on already existing native cities, completely overtaking their infrastructures.

Front 6

Concentric zone model

Back 6

Model that describes urban environments as a series of rings of distinct land uses radiating out from a central core, or central business district.

Front 7

Edge city

Back 7

Cities that are located on the outskirts of larger cities and serve many of the same functions of urban areas, but in a sprawling, decentralized suburban environment.

Front 8

European cities

Back 8

Cities in Europe that were mostly developed during the Medieval Period and that retain many of the same characteristics such as extreme density of development with narrow 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.

Front 9

Exurbanite

Back 9

Person who has left the inner city and moved to outlying suburbs or rural areas.

Front 10

Feudal city

Back 10

Cities that arose during the Middle Ages and 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.

Front 11

Gateway city

Back 11

Cities that, because of their geographic location, act as ports of entry and distribution centers for large geographic areas.

Front 12

Gentrification

Back 12

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.

Front 13

Hinterland

Back 13

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

Front 14

Islamic cities

Back 14

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 Islamic cities.

Front 15

Latin American cities

Back 15

Cities in Latin America that 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.

Front 16

Medieval cities

Back 16

Cities that developed in Europe during the Medieval Period and that contain such unique features as extreme density of development with narrow buildings and winding streets, an ornate church that prominently marks the city center, and high walls surrounding the city center that provided defense against an attack.

Front 17

Megacities

Back 17

Cities, mostly characteristic of the developing world, where high population growth and migration have caused them to explode in population since World War II. All megacities are plagued by chaotic and unplanned growth, terrible pollution, and widespread poverty.

Front 18

Megalopolis

Back 18

Several, metropolitan areas that were originally separate but that have joined together to form a large, sprawling urban complex.

Front 19

Metropolitan area

Back 19

Within the United States, 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.

Front 20

Modern architecture

Back 20

Point of view, wherein cities and buildings are thought to act like well-oiled machines, with little energy spent on frivolous details or ornate designs. Efficient, geometrical structures made of concrete and glass dominated urban forms for half a century while this view prevailed.

Front 21

Multiple nuclei model

Back 21

Type of urban form wherein cities have numerous centers of business and cultural activity instead of one central place.

Front 22

Node

Back 22

Geographical centers of activity. A large city, such as Los Angeles, has numerous nodes.

Front 23

Postmodern architecture

Back 23

A reaction in architectural design to the feeling of sterile alienation that many people get from modern architecture. Postmodernism uses older, historical styles and a sense of lightheartedness and eclecticism. Buildings combine pleasant-looking forms and playful colors to convey new ideas and to create spaces that are more people-friendly than their modernist predecessors.

Front 24

Primate city

Back 24

A country's leading city, with a population that is disproportionately greater than other urban areas within the same country.

Front 25

Rank-size rule

Back 25

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.

Front 26

Sector model

Back 26

A model or urban land use that places the central business district in the middle with wedge-shaped sectors radiating outwards from the center along transportation corridors.

Front 27

Suburb

Back 27

Residential communities, located outsides of city centers, that are usually relatively homogenous in terms of population.

Front 28

Urban growth boundary

Back 28

Geographical boundaries placed around a city to limit suburban growth within that city.

Front 29

Urban morphology

Back 29

The physical form of a city or urban region.

Front 30

Urban revitalization

Back 30

The process occurring in some urban areas experiencing inner city decay that usually involves the construction of new shopping districts, entertainment venues, and cultural attractions to entice young urban professionals back into the cities where nightlife and culture are more accessible.