Contemporary Urban Environments

• Accessibility - How easy it is to travel to a place or interact with an individual.
• Council Estate - Consisting only of social housing, with tenants on subsidised rent.
• Amenity Value - The value of a resource to locals and businesses (beaches, timber, coal). Built Environment - The buildings and infrastructure within an urban area.
• Counter Urbanisation - An increase in the proportion of a population living within rural areas, due to migration from urban to rural regions.
• Cultural Enrichment - The addition of ideas, traditions and beliefs due to the arrival of new people.
• Capital - Productive assets, goods or financial stakes.
• Culture-led Regeneration - The focus of regeneration is to enhance histoju ric or cultural attractions of an area such as opening stately homes and building a reputation based on famous residents (Wordsworth country, Beatrix Potter in the Lake District, etc).
• Deindustrialisation - A reduction in industrial capacity, leading to social and economic change within a region.
• Cycle of Deprivation - A negative multiplier effect, where by deindustrialisation leads to economic loss, declining quality of life for locals and the loss of services which all lead to further deindustrialisation.
• Dereliction - The loss of industry or productivity of a land, leaving it abandoned.
• Demographic - The characteristics of a population.
• Elite Migrants - Migration due to an individual’s wealth or status, often investing in the host country through investment visas, property or business.
• Environmental Impact Assessment - The study of environmental impacts caused by large business projects.
• Gated Communities - Urban neighbourhoods surrounded by gates often to improve privacy and safety. They can add to segregation within a community.
• Environmental Regeneration - The focus of regeneration is to restore and maintain natural environments such as woodlands, beaches and national parks.
• Ethnicity - The cultural background of a group of people, often based on religion or country of origin.
• Gentrification - Renovation of older/deteriorating buildings or areas with the aim of attracting high-income individuals or elite businesses to a place.
• Hard Regeneration - Construction of new buildings and infrastructure and investment within a region.
• Inequality - Differences in income, well-being and wealth between individuals, communities and society.
• Idyll - A location with ideal living conditions and good qualities. Often based on a perception.
• Internal Migration - The movement of people within a country.
• International Migration - The movement of people from one country to another.
• Kuznet’s Curve - A graph describing environmental degradation as a country’s GDP per capita increases.
• Leisure-led Regeneration - The focus of regeneration is to attract tourists or improve the social quality of life (sports & activities, attractions, etc.).
• Life-cycle Stage - The change in opinions and values at different stages of an individual’s life. Life Expectancy - The average number of years an individual is likely to live, determined at birth.
• Media - The publishing of information and production of entertainment (e.g. BBC, local newspapers, radio stations).
• Lived Experience - The contribution of experiences and opportunities to an individual’s views and values.
• Overheating - Increased demand for housing and the services of an area results in rising prices rather than increased output.
• Non-Agricultural Based Regeneration - The focus of regeneration is to produce revenue for rural businesses (e.g. Tea Rooms, Paintballing, Historic Attractions).
• Political Engagement - The willingness and ability of an individual to vote or join political parties or pressure groups.
• Pressure Group - Usually voluntary organisations, with the aim of persuading the public and changing government policy or authorities actions.
• Population Density - The number of people per square kilometre.
• Rebranding - Creating a new look or reputation for an area.
• Retail-led Regeneration - The focus of regeneration is to attract shops to high streets and markets, and to establish warehouses and logistical hubs for TNCs.
• Regional Disparity - The economic (or cultural) gap between different parts of a country.
• Reimaging - Regeneration and rebranding specifically focussed on removing negative perceptions about a place.
• Rural Decline - Reduction in population in rural areas, leading to reduced services and government spending for that region.
• Rural-urban Continuum - A range of living spaces running from remotest peripheral rural villages to the CBD of the city.
• Segregation - The separation of a group from other groups this can be through force or voluntarily. Segregation can often occur due to housing strategies or regeneration projects.
• Sink Estates - Council estates that score badly on the Index of Multiple Deprivation.