Final Exam Notes

• Urbanization


  The process of population concentration in urban areas
• Urban areas


  • Places where large numbers of people live together in relatively dense settlements and work in nonagricultural jobs
• Globally, we are undergoing an urban transition, where populations are becoming more urban and less rural
• In 2008, for the first time, more people lived in urban than rural areas
• Collectively, the world's cities add more than 1 million people per week, mostly due to migration from rural areas
• There are more people living in Tokyo than the total population of Earth 6,000 years ago, when cities were just beginning to form
• Historically and today, cities tend to form around trade and transportation hubs and centers of political power
• The first city to have more than 1 million inhabitants was London in 1800, and today, nearly 25% of all people live in a city with 1 million people
• By 2050, urban populations are projected to double
• Building cities


  Has come at the cost of transforming natural landscapes and habitats like forests and prairies
• Urban development has altered or eliminated more than half of wetlands in Florida and more than 90% of the coastal wetlands in California
• The San Francisco–Oakland–Hayward Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has been ranked as one of the "greenest" places to live in the United States, has an ecological footprint of 7.1 global hectares per person
• Resource extraction and waste generation has resulted in high levels of pollution and an increase in ecological footprints
• Urban penalty


  The human health problems associated with urban living
• Horrendous living conditions due to industrialization in Europe and North American during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries resulted in cholera and other infectious disease epidemics as well as high death and infant mortality rates
• Improvements in sanitation and public health have helped reduce mortality rates in urban areas to less than those in rural areas globally, but some developing cities are still plagued with numerous diseases
• Urban density


  The number of residents per unity of space
• Economy of scale

  A situation where the per capita cost for services decreases as a result of the increasing scale of operations
• More people using shared resources such as roads can stress the infrastructure and resources of the city, which presents opportunities to solve environmental problems
• Efficiency gains and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions are a result of sharing heating and cooling usage and costs by living in multidwelling buildings and sharing space
• Globally, slums are home to nearly 1 billion people, a number that is expected to double by 2030
• Slums are found not only in developing countries, but in the United States and Europe as well
• Indoor plumbing is nonexistent, and open sewer ditches pollute their homes
• History and Development of Slums


  1. The rise of slums in Paris, London, and New York was a defining factor of the nineteenth century with industrialization and no policies governing living conditions

  2. Slums began as low-wage workers started living close to the factories where they worked

  3. By the mid-nineteenth century, more than half of the New York City population lived in substandard conditions

  4. New York shantytown homes were built near the waterfront with poor ventilation and no indoor plumbing
• Bright lights syndrome


  The perception that cities are places of greater opportunity, excitement, and freedom to pursue all aspects of life
• Informal economy


  The small entrepreneurial ventures that operate beyond the reach of government regulation and taxation
• Suburban sprawl


  The spread of urban populations away from the centers of cities to widely dispersed areas that have relatively low population densities
• A 2010 census revealed that a majority of the US population lives in suburbs
• Suburban sprawl is a less dense and more resource-intensive form of urbanization that has its own environmental and social challenges
• Metropolitan area


  Clusters of densely populated suburbs and cities
• One-use zones


  Distinct zones that serve one particular purpose, such as residential subdivisions, shopping centers, office parks, and schools
• Dwelling units per acre (DU/acre)


  A measurement of residential development including single-family homes, apartments, and condos
• Floor-to-area ratio (FAR)


  A measurement that calculates the total floor space of a building and the area of land it is built upon
• Sprawl


  Consumes previously undeveloped land, reduces pedestrian travel, and increases average vehicle ownership, as well as miles traveled per capita
• Sprawl has replaced substantial acres of natural ecosystems, such as forests and wetlands
• Typical suburban street patterns have changed traditional grid patterns in the United States, producing an indirect route from houses to shopping areas or schools that is less pedestrian-friendly
• The traditional grid pattern allowed more direct routes for greater pedestrian access
• How Suburban Sprawl Developed in the United States


  1. After World War II, the United States experienced a housing and baby boom where 10 million new households were created between 1945 and 1955 requiring places to live

  2. "Moving up" in class status equated to "moving out" of the central city to pursue the American Dream

  3. Zoning created to separate residential areas from the pollution of heavy industry also separated people by class, race, ethnicity, and religion
• Many residential neighborhoods in the United States were rooted in discrimination against minority groups through the use of restrictive covenants and redefining
• Restrictive covenants legally barred ethnic groups from purchasing or occupying a property for multiple generations