The City Collections: Definitions in Urban Planning
There are many different ways to address a problem. “The City” engages with approaches centered around community, the environment, and addressing historical inequality. Below is a running list of terms and definitions related to such approaches. All definitions are directly taken from the sources specified.
Biophilic design
A design approach that fosters beneficial contact between people and nature in modern buildings and landscapes.
Via: Source & Stephen R. Kellert, author of “Biophilic Design: The Theory, Science, and Practice of Bringing Buildings to Life”
Community Bonds
A social finance tool that can be used by charities, non-profits and co-operatives to finance socially and environmentally impactful projects.
Similar in many ways to a traditional bond, they are an interest bearing loan from an investor, which has a set rate of return and a fixed term.
Via: Source
Community Land Trust
A community land trust (CLT) is a nonprofit corporation that holds land on behalf of a place-based community, while serving as the long-term steward for affordable housing, community gardens, civic buildings, commercial spaces and other community assets on behalf of a community.
Via: Source
Gentrification
A process in which a poor area (as of a city) experiences an influx of middle-class or wealthy people who renovate and rebuild homes and businesses and which often results in an increase in property values and the displacement of earlier, usually poorer residents
Via: Source
New urbanism
New Urbanism is a planning and development approach based on the principles of how cities and towns had been built for the last several centuries: walkable blocks and streets, housing and shopping in close proximity, and accessible public spaces. In other words: New Urbanism focuses on human-scaled urban design.
Via: Source
Redlining
Redlining can be defined as a discriminatory practice that consists of the systematic denial of services such as mortgages, insurance loans, and other financial services to residents of certain areas, based on their race or ethnicity.
Via: Source
Urban Renewal
A construction program to replace or restore substandard buildings in an urban area.
Via: Source
Urban Renewal - Additional Context
The federal policy known as urban renewal was formally established by the Housing Act of 1949 and reinforced by the Housing Act of 1954, which created new requirements for cities to develop actionable revitalization plans.
Ostensibly intended to improve "blighted" neighborhoods and provide better housing conditions, urban renewal often involved displacement and the wholesale destruction of urban communities.
Via: Source
Zoning
The act or process of partitioning a city, town, or borough into zones reserved for different purposes (such as residence or business)
Via: Source