Chapter 13: Urbanization

Learning Objectives- After studying this chapter you should be able to:
1. Identify the attributes of the CBD and the types of services that are found there.
2. Identify and explain the three ways in which urban settlements are defined and the attributes of the megalopolis/BosWash corridor.
3. Explain the process of annexation and the difficulties presented by government fragmentation in North America.
4. Identify the three models of urban structure and describe their basic attributes.
5. Apply the models of urban structure to different social characteristics to explain why people with these characteristics live where they do in urban areas (explain and give examples of social area analysis).
6. Identify the attributes of cities in less developed countries and in Europe and compare the distribution of social classes in cities in those regions to that of cities in the United States.
7. Describe the process of suburbanization noting the changes in patterns of retailing and the effects of sprawl and segregation.
8. Identify the reasons for the decline of inner cities and note the positive and negative effects of gentrification.
9. Identify the different results from reliance upon public transportation versus private automobiles.

Terms-  You should understand these terms and be ready to identify them:
Annexation Legally adding land area to a city in the United States.
Census tract An area delineated by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for which statistics are published; in urbanized areas, census tracts correspond roughly to neighborhoods.
Central business district (CBD) The area of a city where retail and office activities are clustered.
Concentric zone model A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are spatially arranged in a series of rings.
Edge city A large node of office and retail activities on the edge of an urban area.
Filtering A process of change in the use of a house, from single-family owner occupancy to abandonment.
Gentrification A process of converting an urban neighborhood from a predominantly low-income renter-occupied area to a predominantly middle-class owner-occupied area.
Metropolitan statistical area (MSA) In the United States, a central city of at least 50,000 population, the county within which the city is located, and adjacent counties meeting one of several tests indicating a functional connection to the central city.
Micropolitan statistical area An urbanized area of between 10,000 and 50,000 inhabitants, the county in which it is found, and adjacent counties tied to the city.
Multiple nuclei model A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a collection of nodes of activities.
Peripheral model A model of North American urban areas consisting of an inner city surrounded by large suburban residential and business areas tied together by a beltway or ring road.
Sector model A model of the internal structure of cities in which social groups are arranged around a series of sectors, or wedges, radiating out from the central business district (CBD).
Smart growth Legislation and regulations to limit suburban sprawl and preserve farmland.
Sprawl Development of new housing sites at relatively low density and at locations that are not contiguous to the existing built-up area.
Squatter 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.
Underclass A group in society prevented from participating in the material benefits of a more developed society because of a variety of social and economic characteristics.
Urbanized area In the United States, a central city plus its contiguous built-up suburbs.