GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES 225 – URBAN GEO 2. Urban geography concepts
3. Urban geography: from global to local
4. Defining the urban
5 & 6. Global urbanisation and the urbanisation cycle
(7. Urban planning)
8. world cities
9. global markets
10. Informal economies
11. Urban liveability
12. Housing the urban poor
13. Gentrification
14. Health and the urban poor
15. Urban transportation
16. Urban sustainability
17. Smart growth and sustainable development
,2. URBAN GEOGRAPHY CONCEPTS
1. Globalisation
- Processes that have served to increase the interconnectedness of social life in the
contemporary world
- The intensification of social life in the contemporary world
2. Glocalisation
- Global brand + local innovation
- The process by which developments in particular places are the outcome of both global and
local forces
- E.g. coke cans with South African names
3. Carrying capacity
- The maximum number of users that can be sustained by a given set of land resources
4. Central business district
- The nucleus of an urban area, containing the main concentration of commercial land uses
- Decentralisation can undermine the traditional dominance of the CBD
- Usually (not always) the older area
- Characterised by high-rise buildings
5. City
- Large urban settlement with a dense population that is usually a centre of government and
administration, culture, social networking and economic enterprise
- Dense population
- High building density
6. Commodification
- The use of private markets rather than public sector allocation mechanisms to allocate goods
and services
- E.g. bottled water
7. Core-periphery model
- A model of spatial organisation of human activity based on the unequal distribution of
economic, social and political power between a dominant core and a subordinate and
dependent periphery.
8. Counter-urbanisation
- A process of population deconcentration away from the large urban settlements
9. Gated community
- A residential area with defensive measures such as such as gates, fences and security guards
to exclude social groups which are deemed undesirable.
10. Gentrification
- The process of neighbourhood upgrading by relatively affluent incomers who move into a
poorer neighbourhood in sufficient numbers to displace lower-income groups and transform
, its social identity.
11. Informal sector
- The part of an economy which is beyond official recognition and record but which performs
productive, useful and necessary labour without formal systems of control.
- Informal-sector activities constitute a major part of the urban economy in the Third World.
- Not illegal but there are regulations in different areas
12. Informal settlement
- *Who decides what is informal?
13. Inner city
- An area around the central business district usually associated with dilapidation, poor housing, and
economic and social deprivation.
- People hijack and take over buildings
- Vibrant economic activity
14. Megalopolis
- A term employed by Gottomann to describe the interconnected urban complex of the north-eastern
seaboard of the US
15. Primate city
- A country's leading city which is disproportionately larger than any other in the system and
dominant not only in population size but also in its role as the political, economic and social centre
of the country.
- The dominant city in a country
16. Rural-urban continuum
- A continuous gradation of ways of life between the two places of a truly rural community and truly
urban society
17. Rural-urban fringe
- A transition zone between the continuously built-up urban and suburban areas of the city and the
rural hinterland.
18. Social movement
- Collective attempt to bring about or resist social change often through non-institutional means
- E.g. a campaign against an urban motorway or to obtain basic infrastructure in a Third World
squatter settlement
- South African examples: Anti-Eviction Campaign, abahlali.org
19. Social polarization
- The trend towards increased inequality between the rich and poor in society
- Leads to a reducing middle class and an ‘hourglass’ society
20. Sprawl
- Unplanned suburban growth
, 21. Suburb
- An outer district lying within the commuting zone of an urban area
22. Teleworking
- The substitution of electronic communication for physical movement of employees to a central
work-place
- Synonym: telecommuting
23. Transnational corporation
- A business corporation that operates in at least two different countries
24. Uneven development
- A systematic process of economic and social development that is uneven in space and time,
which is integral to the capitalist development process, as capitalists search for the point of
maximum profit
- Uneven development is evident at all geographic scales
25. Urban
- Relating to towns and cities
26. Urbanism
- A way of life associated with residence in an urban area
27. World city
- A city in which a disproportionate part of the world’s most important business is conducted
- A focal point or command centre for the organisation of the global economy
- Also known as a ‘global city’
3. Urban geography: from global to local
4. Defining the urban
5 & 6. Global urbanisation and the urbanisation cycle
(7. Urban planning)
8. world cities
9. global markets
10. Informal economies
11. Urban liveability
12. Housing the urban poor
13. Gentrification
14. Health and the urban poor
15. Urban transportation
16. Urban sustainability
17. Smart growth and sustainable development
,2. URBAN GEOGRAPHY CONCEPTS
1. Globalisation
- Processes that have served to increase the interconnectedness of social life in the
contemporary world
- The intensification of social life in the contemporary world
2. Glocalisation
- Global brand + local innovation
- The process by which developments in particular places are the outcome of both global and
local forces
- E.g. coke cans with South African names
3. Carrying capacity
- The maximum number of users that can be sustained by a given set of land resources
4. Central business district
- The nucleus of an urban area, containing the main concentration of commercial land uses
- Decentralisation can undermine the traditional dominance of the CBD
- Usually (not always) the older area
- Characterised by high-rise buildings
5. City
- Large urban settlement with a dense population that is usually a centre of government and
administration, culture, social networking and economic enterprise
- Dense population
- High building density
6. Commodification
- The use of private markets rather than public sector allocation mechanisms to allocate goods
and services
- E.g. bottled water
7. Core-periphery model
- A model of spatial organisation of human activity based on the unequal distribution of
economic, social and political power between a dominant core and a subordinate and
dependent periphery.
8. Counter-urbanisation
- A process of population deconcentration away from the large urban settlements
9. Gated community
- A residential area with defensive measures such as such as gates, fences and security guards
to exclude social groups which are deemed undesirable.
10. Gentrification
- The process of neighbourhood upgrading by relatively affluent incomers who move into a
poorer neighbourhood in sufficient numbers to displace lower-income groups and transform
, its social identity.
11. Informal sector
- The part of an economy which is beyond official recognition and record but which performs
productive, useful and necessary labour without formal systems of control.
- Informal-sector activities constitute a major part of the urban economy in the Third World.
- Not illegal but there are regulations in different areas
12. Informal settlement
- *Who decides what is informal?
13. Inner city
- An area around the central business district usually associated with dilapidation, poor housing, and
economic and social deprivation.
- People hijack and take over buildings
- Vibrant economic activity
14. Megalopolis
- A term employed by Gottomann to describe the interconnected urban complex of the north-eastern
seaboard of the US
15. Primate city
- A country's leading city which is disproportionately larger than any other in the system and
dominant not only in population size but also in its role as the political, economic and social centre
of the country.
- The dominant city in a country
16. Rural-urban continuum
- A continuous gradation of ways of life between the two places of a truly rural community and truly
urban society
17. Rural-urban fringe
- A transition zone between the continuously built-up urban and suburban areas of the city and the
rural hinterland.
18. Social movement
- Collective attempt to bring about or resist social change often through non-institutional means
- E.g. a campaign against an urban motorway or to obtain basic infrastructure in a Third World
squatter settlement
- South African examples: Anti-Eviction Campaign, abahlali.org
19. Social polarization
- The trend towards increased inequality between the rich and poor in society
- Leads to a reducing middle class and an ‘hourglass’ society
20. Sprawl
- Unplanned suburban growth
, 21. Suburb
- An outer district lying within the commuting zone of an urban area
22. Teleworking
- The substitution of electronic communication for physical movement of employees to a central
work-place
- Synonym: telecommuting
23. Transnational corporation
- A business corporation that operates in at least two different countries
24. Uneven development
- A systematic process of economic and social development that is uneven in space and time,
which is integral to the capitalist development process, as capitalists search for the point of
maximum profit
- Uneven development is evident at all geographic scales
25. Urban
- Relating to towns and cities
26. Urbanism
- A way of life associated with residence in an urban area
27. World city
- A city in which a disproportionate part of the world’s most important business is conducted
- A focal point or command centre for the organisation of the global economy
- Also known as a ‘global city’
