| accessibility/assessable |
A term that describes the
usability of a product or service by people with disabilities.
|
| active living community |
A community designed to provide opportunities for people of all
ages and abilities to incorporate physical activity into their daily routines. By encouraging
people to be more active, active living communities may improve health by lowering people’s risk
for health conditions such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
|
| adaptive reuse |
Adapting buildings for new uses while retaining their historic features.
|
| aging in place |
The ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently,
and comfortably, regardless of age, income, or ability level.
|
air pollution
|
One or more chemicals, substances, or physical
conditions (such as excess heat or noise) in high enough
concentrations in the air to harm humans, other animals, vegetation,
or materials.
|
bicycle friendly
|
Possessing urban design factors that
help make an area that caters to the needs of bicyclists. Factors
include
- Public facilities such as bicycle racks on streets or by public
buildings
- Regulations that allow riders to take bicycles on
board buses, trains, etc.
- Accessibility such as the position of bicycle paths relative
to roads, quality of the terrain, presence of curb cuts, etc.
- Safety features such as lighting, security measures, and
protection from on-road vehicles
- Aesthetics of bicycle paths and their surrounding areas
|
brownfield
|
Abandoned or underused portions of land occupied by
vacant businesses or closed military structures, located in formerly
industrial or urban areas. Redevelopment may be complicated by real
or perceived contamination of the site.
|
built environment
|
Human-formed, developed, or
structured areas.
|
| buffer zone |
A natural, undisturbed strip or "green belt" surrounding a
development or land disturbance activity or bordering a stream or permanent water body.
|
| built environment |
The buildings, roads, utilities, homes, fixtures, parks and all other
man-made entities that form the physical characteristics of a community.
|
community
|
A specific group of people, often living in a
defined geographic area, who share a common culture, values, and
norms and who are arranged in a social structure according to
relationships the community has developed over a period of time. The
term “community” encompasses worksites, schools, and health care
sites.
|
connectivity
|
The ease of travel between two points.
The degree to which streets or areas are interconnected and easily
accessible to one another. An example of high connectivity would be
a dense grid pattern in a downtown area.
|
curb cuts
|
A space within a curb that is cut away to create a
flat area convenient for bicycles, wheelchairs, and strollers.
|
|
|
density
|
The compactness of development. Common measures of
density include population per acre or square mile and dwelling
units per acre.
|
| displacement |
When long-time or original
neighborhood residents move from a gentrified area because of higher
rents, mortgages, and property taxes.
|
| districts |
Urbanized areas that specialize in a particular activity such as
airports and industrial areas.
|
| envelope |
The skin of a
building-including the windows, doors, walls, foundation, basement
slab, ceilings, roof and insulation – that separates the interior of
a building from the outdoor environment.
|
| embodied energy |
How much energy was
required to extract, process, package, transport, install, and
recycle or dispose of materials that make up a building’s
construction.
|
| energy smart |
Meeting your energy needs
cost effectively and with the least impact on the environment.
|
environment
|
Everything external to people -- everything other
than behavior and genetics. All conditions that affect people during
their lifetimes.
|
| environmental impact
assessments (EIAs) |
HIAs are similar in some
ways to environmental impact assessments (EIAs), which are mandated
processes that focus on environmental outcomes such as air and water
quality. Unlike EIAs, HIAs can be voluntary or regulatory processes
that focus on health outcomes such as obesity, physical inactivity,
asthma, injuries, and social equity. An HIA encompasses a
heterogeneous array of qualitative and quantitative methods and
tools.
|
| Environmental impact
statement |
A document required of
federal agencies by the National Environmental Policy Act for major
projects or legislative proposals significantly affecting the
environment. A tool for decision making, it describes the positive
and negative effects of the undertaking and cites alternative
actions.
|
feeder roads
|
Smaller roadways that “feed” or connect traffic to
larger roadways.
|
| F.A.R. |
An acronym for Floor Area Ratio. FAR expresses the relationship between the
amount of useable floor area permitted in a building (or buildings) and the area of the lot on which the
building stands.It is obtained by dividing the gross floor area of a building by the total area of the lot.
|
| footprint |
Land area taken up by a
building.
|
| form-based codes |
A method of regulating
development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-based codes
create a predictable public realm by controlling physical form
primarily, with a lesser focus on land use, through city or county
regulations. From-based codes address the relationship between
building facades and the public realm, the form and mass of
buildings in relation to one another, and the scale and types of
streets and blocks.
|
| fossil fuels |
Carbon-rich deposits in the
earth, such as petroleum (oil), coal, or natural gas, derived from
the remains of ancient plants and animals and used for fuel.
|
| gentrification |
The transformation of
neighborhoods from low value to high value. This change has the
potential to cause displacement of long-time residents and
businesses. Gentrification is a housing, economic, and health issue
that affects a community’s history and culture and reduces social
capital. It often shifts a neighborhood’s characteristics (e.g.,
racial/ethnic composition and household income) by adding new stores
and resources in previously run-down neighborhoods.
|
geographic information systems (GIS)
|
Computer-based systems capable of
integrating different types of geological and demographic
information. By creating maps, one may depict an area's natural and
human-made resources, including soil types, population densities,
land uses, transportation corridors, waterways, street patterns,
mass-transit patterns, sewer lines, water sources, and utility
lines.
|
geothermal energy
|
Heat that comes from the
Earth’s interior.
|
| global warming |
The progressive gradual rise of the Earth's surface
temperature thought to be caused by the greenhouse effect. Global
warming may be responsible for changes in global climate patterns.
|
greenfields
|
Newly developed commercial property on what was
previously undeveloped and open space, or farmland.
|
greenhouse effect
|
The process whereby a portion of the solar heat and
energy traveling through the Earth’s atmosphere toward the earth's
surface is prevented from radiating back into outer space by a
variety of gases (e.g., water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other
gases).
|
| green design |
Using natural products and safer procedures to protect people’s health and well-being.
|
green space
|
Open, undeveloped land with natural vegetation.
|
health
|
A state of physical, mental, and social
well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.
|
| healthy places |
Communities that are developed,
designed and built to promote good health.
|
| health impact assessment
(HIA) |
A combination of
procedures, methods, and tools by which a policy, program, or
project may be judged as to its potential effects on the health of a
population, and the distribution of those effects within the
population. HIAs an be used to evaluate objectively the potential
health effects of a project or policy before it is built or
implemented. It can provide recommendations to increase positive
health outcomes and minimize adverse health outcomes. A major
benefit of the HIA process is that it brings public health issues to
the attention of persons who make decisions about areas that fall
outside of traditional public health arenas, such as transportation
or land use.
|
healthy community
|
A community that is continuously
creating and improving those physical and social environments and
expanding those community resources that enable people to mutually
support each other in performing all the functions of life and in
developing to their maximum potential.
|
|
|
impermeable
|
Incapable of permeating, absorbing, or
diffusing water, thereby creating runoff.
|
| inclusionary zoning
policies |
Inclusionary zoning is a
promising policy strategy that allocates a percentage of the rental
or for-sale units in housing developments for low- and
moderate-income residents. In return, developers receive cost
offsets as compensation for their affordable housing contributions.
|
infill development
|
Development that takes place within
existing communities, making maximum use of the existing
infrastructure instead of building on previously undeveloped land.
|
infrastructure
|
Supportive services such as water and
sewer lines, roads, transit lines, schools, and other public
services.
|
| LEED |
An acronym for The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green
Building Rating System™. LEED is a voluntary, consensus-based standard to support and certify
successful green building design, construction and operations.
|
| location-efficient
mortgages |
Competitive rates and low
down payments to those who want to live in “location-efficient
communities” that are convenient to resources and reduce the need to
drive.
|
mixed-use development
|
Juxtaposition of land
classifications, such as residential, office, commercial,
industrial, park, and flood plain within a given area. Land use is
controlled by zoning ordinances that reflect political decisions
often made at the local level.
|
modal choices
|
Transportation options; one's preferred
method of transportation, such as walking, bicycling, using an
automobile, riding a bus or rail, etc.
|
neotraditional development
|
Typical of pre-World War II communities,
neotraditional development is characterized by urban regions
comprising many cohesive neighborhoods, each with their own
commercial core and linked to one another by some form of transit.
While a metropolitan area has a central downtown, the many
neighborhood centers provide a secondary service area that can be
reached on foot from people's homes. The neighborhood centers may
include retail establishments, offices, service providers, cinemas,
health clubs, dense housing, and a transit hub.
|
New Urbanism
|
An approach to development and
redevelopment promoted by many architects, planners, and urban
designers. To qualify as a "new urbanist" project, community
development should meet the following criteria.
- Rule out any development that is gated; that lacks sidewalks; or
that has a branching, tree-like street system rather than a grid
network.
- Connect well with surrounding neighborhoods, developments, or towns,
while protecting regional open space.
- Rule out "single-use" developments that include only housing,
retail, or office space. The various types of building should all be
seamlessly integrated and include workplaces, retail establishments,
and different types of housing.
- Include a neighborhood center within easy and safe walking distance
from all dwellings in the neighborhood. Buildings should be designed
to make the street feel safe and inviting by having front doors,
porches, and windows facing the street instead of having a
streetscape of garage doors.
- Include formal civic spaces and squares.
- Satisfy the "popsicle test" whereby an 8-year-old in the
neighborhood could walk to a store to buy a popsicle without
encountering fast-moving cars.
|
nonpoint source
|
Large land
area such as a crop field or an urban area that discharges
pollutants into surface and underground water over a large area; any
pollution with a vague, diffuse point of origin is referred to as
"nonpoint-source pollution."
|
ozone layer
|
The protective layer of the Earth’s
atmosphere, about 15 miles above the ground, that absorbs some of
the sun's ultraviolet rays, thereby reducing the amount of
potentially harmful radiation that reaches the Earth's surface.
|
|
|
pedestrian
friendly
|
An area that caters to the needs of
pedestrians (see "walkable community”).
|
percolation
|
The extent to which a surface allows
liquids and other substances to filter through it or seep to
surrounding areas.
|
permeable
|
Description of any surface that allows
another substance (for example, water) to pass through it.
|
pervious
|
Permeable;
allows something to pass through it.
|
| photovoltaic cell |
A device that converts
sunlight into electricity.
|
point source
|
A single identifiable source that
discharges pollutants into the environment. Examples are smokestacks,
sewers, ditches, or pipes. Any pollution with a definable, specific
source of origin is referred to as "point-source pollution."
|
pollution
|
A change in the physical, chemical,
or biologic characteristics of the air, water, or soil that can
affect the health, survival, or activities of all forms of life in
an unwanted way.
|
| prefabricated |
Standardized building
sections that are created in a factory to be shipped and assembled
in another location.
|
proximity
|
The distance between different land uses
such as residential and commercial.
|
quality of life
|
Referring to an overall sense of
well-being with a strong relation to a person's health
perceptions and ability to function. On a larger scale, quality of
life can be viewed as including all aspects of community life that
have a direct and quantifiable influence on the physical and mental
health of its members.
|
| off-gassing |
The release of gas into the
air from products treated with chemicals during their manufacture.
|
| Off-the-Grid |
A term used to describe a
system that runs on renewable energy sources independent of a
conventional public utility grid.
|
| radiant heating |
An efficient heating system
that warms cold objects, which then radiate heat into the
surrounding space evenly.
|
| renewability |
Natural materials that are
rapidly renewable, such as fast-growing trees and agricultural
products.
|
| renewable energy |
Energy derived from sources
that do not deplete natural resources. Examples include solar, wind,
and geothermal energy from the Earth’s core.
|
| reusability |
Products that are
long-lasting and require little maintenance.
|
runoff
|
Water from rain or snow that is not
absorbed into the ground but instead flows over less permeable
surfaces into streams and rivers.
|
setback
|
The minimum distance required by zoning
laws to be maintained between a building and the street or between a
structure and property lines.
|
| SmartCode |
A comprehensive form-based
zoning and planning approach that incorporates smart growth and New
Urbanism principles to help organize the human habitat. It is based
on the idea of the Transect, which defines a continuum of urbanized
conditions ranging from the permanently rural and undeveloped, to
the dense, intensely urbanized city centers.
|
social capital
|
The individual and communal
time and energy that is available for such things as community
improvement, social networking, civic engagement, personal
recreation, and other activities that create social bonds between
individuals and groups. Circumstances that prevent or limit the
availability of social capital for a community and its members can
have a negative effect on the health and well-being of the members
of that community. These negative effects on health and well-being
can in turn have negative effects on the community as a whole.
|
| special populations |
Certain classifications
used to identify target groups including the poor, women, children,
the elderly, and members of racial/ethnic minority groups.
|
sprawl
|
A development pattern characterized by the
following traits:
- No boundaries; unlimited outward expansion
- Low-density residential and commercial settlements
- Widespread strip commercial development; sporadic or “leapfrog” development
- Responsibility for land-use and zoning decisions fragmented among various jurisdictions
- Private automobiles dominate transportation options; inconvenient or no public transportation available
- Great differences in economic status among residential neighborhoods
- Land-use segregated into specific zones; no mixed-use development
|
street network or grid
|
The patterns formed by roadways and the
extent to which they are connected to each other (i.e.,
“connectivity”). For example,
- The traditional urban block-like grid involves a dense matrix of
interconnected streets typically seen in older urban areas; many
traffic options available
- The hierarchical grid, common in most suburban areas, consists of
sets of dead-end streets and cul-de-sacs that feed into secondary
roadways that ultimately feed into major roadways; traffic collects
on main arteries.
|
| sustainable design |
Reducing the environmental impact from the manufacture and use of products.
|
| Sustainability |
Meeting the needs of the
present without depleting resources or harming natural cycles for
future generations.
|
syndemic
|
A term invented to describe a set of
linked health problems; two or more afflictions or epidemics
interacting simultaneously and synergistically (together having a
greater effect than would be expected by adding the effects of
each); epidemic synergy contributing to excess burden of disease in
a population.
|
|
|
|
TEA-21
|
The Transportation Equity Act for the
21st Century (TEA-21), which was enacted June 9, 1998, as Public Law
105-178. TEA-21 authorizes the federal surface transportation
programs for highways, highway safety, and transit for the 6-year
period 1998-2003. This law provides authorization and funding to
transform outdated transportation priorities.
|
traditional development
|
Similar to "neotraditional" development.
|
| transect |
The characteristics of ecosystems and the transition from one ecosystem to another.
|
transit-oriented development
(TOD)
|
Development of commercial space,
housing, services, and job opportunities close to public
transportation, thereby reducing dependence on automobiles. TODs are
typically designed to include a mix of land uses within a
quarter-mile walking distance of a transit stop or core commercial
area.
|
urban (or community) design
|
An activity during which decisions are
made about the geographic placement of and interaction between natural resources (e.g.,
topography, vegetation) and built elements (e.g., buildings, roads)
in a specific area. Urban designers consider how people will
perceive and interact with the human-made environment.
|
| urban growth boundary (UGB) |
A line drawn around a metropolitan area,
designating the limits of allowable growth. Land outside the
boundary is protected from new development.
|
urban heat islands
|
A dome of heat over a city that is
formed as vegetation is replaced by pavement, buildings, and other
structures necessary to accommodate growing populations. The
surfaces of these structures absorb, rather than reflect, the sun's
heat, causing surface temperatures to rise. The displacement of
trees and shrubs eliminates the natural cooling effects of shading
they would have provided.
|
urban sprawl
|
See "sprawl."
|
walkable community
|
A community where people can walk safely. A walkable environment that has the
following characteristics:
-
Well-maintained and continuous wide sidewalks
-
Ramped curbs
-
Safe and easy street crossings
-
A level terrain
-
Well-lighted streets
-
A grid-patterned street design
- High street connectivity
- A safety buffer between pedestrians and motorized vehicles (such
as trees, shrubs, streetside parked cars, green space between
pedestrians and cars)
- A slow traffic pattern
- Minimal building setbacks
- Cleanliness
-
Land-use patterns characterized as mixed use with high-unit density
|
zoning
|
Local codes
regulating the
use and development of property within specific categories.
|
