Urban Sustainability & Smart Growth
This planning approach encourages walkability by placing homes, shops, and workplaces close together.
What is mixed‑use development?
A zoning system that separates residential, commercial, and industrial areas.
What is traditional zoning?
An area where investment has dried up and many buildings sit empty.
What is a zone of abandonment?
A discriminatory practice where banks denied loans in certain neighborhoods.
What is redlining?
Movement of people from rural areas to cities.
What is rural‑to‑urban migration?
A city that limits outward expansion and encourages redevelopment of vacant lots is practicing this strategy.
What is infilling?
A policy requiring developers to include affordable units in new housing projects.
What is inclusionary zoning?
A neighborhood lacking basic services such as reliable utilities or safe infrastructure.
What is a disamenity zone?
Real estate agents once used this tactic to pressure homeowners to sell quickly by stoking racial fears.
What is blockbusting?
Settlements built without formal planning or legal housing rights.
What are squatter settlements?
This type of development clusters housing and businesses around rail stations or bus corridors.
What is transit‑oriented development?
A government program that helps low‑income families access housing in a wider range of neighborhoods.
What are housing vouchers?
Former industrial land that may be contaminated and requires cleanup before redevelopment.
What is a brownfield?
Segregation that persists due to economic and social patterns rather than explicit laws.
What is de facto segregation?
A reason governments might invest in rural development programs.
What is to reduce migration pressure on cities?
A policy that sets a firm boundary to prevent sprawl and protect surrounding farmland.
What is an urban growth boundary?
This type of zoning allows apartments above shops or offices in the same building.
What is mixed‑use zoning?
When marginalized communities face higher exposure to pollution or hazards.
What is environmental injustice?
One long‑term effect of redlining still visible in many cities today.
What is lower property values or underfunded infrastructure?
One challenge faced by rapidly growing megacities in developing regions.
What is insufficient housing or infrastructure?
Explain one economic and one environmental benefit of smart‑growth planning.
What are reduced infrastructure costs and lower per‑capita energy use?
Explain how zoning can influence transportation patterns in a metropolitan region.
What is zoning shapes density, which affects whether residents rely on cars or transit?
Explain how declining tax revenue can worsen conditions in already struggling neighborhoods.
What is fewer funds for services, leading to further decline?
Explain how historical housing discrimination continues to influence modern wealth gaps.
What is unequal access to homeownership and generational wealth?
Explain how rapid urbanization can lead to informal housing growth.
What is demand outpacing formal housing supply?