acute shocks – Sudden, sharp events that threaten a city.[see chronic stresses]
agritecture – A unique way of combining urban agriculture, innovative technical solutions and architecture to meet the demand for efficient food production within cities.
aquaponics – A sustainable production system for integrating aquaculture with hydroponic vegetable crops.
autonomous system – A system or network that gathers information, determines the needs, and issues a response or other machine to answer the call.
autonomous vehicle [driverless car, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) “drone,” or unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV)] – A vehicle that can guide itself without human conduction.
bicycle, electric assist – Where the pedal-assist electric drive system is limited to a decent but not excessive top speed, and where its motor is relatively low-powered.
bicycle detection and actuation – Sensors at regular traffic signals to alert the controller of bicycle crossing demand on a particular approach.
bike barometer – A device that uses sensors that are calibrated to be triggered by bikes, not cars or pedestrians, to count the number of bikes that ride by daily, monthly, and/or yearly.
bike boxes – A designated area at the beginning of a traffic lane at a signalized intersection that provides bicyclists a visible and safe way to get ahead of traffic during a red signal.
bike lane, buffered – Convention bicycle lane paired with a designated buffer space separating he bicycle lane from the adjacent motor vehicle travel lane and/or parking lane.
bike share – Innovative transportation programs that are ideal for short distance trips provided users the ability to pick up a bike at a self-serve station and return it at a different self-serve station within the system’s service area.
bike signal head – A traffic control device, exclusively for bicycles, used at an existing conventional traffic signal to improve safety, guidance, and operational problems at intersections where bicycles may have different needs than motorized traffic.
biodiversity – The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.
biofuel – A fuel derived from living matter.
biomimicry – The design and production of materials, structures, and systems that are modeled on biological entities and processes
biophilia hypothesis – Edward O. Wilson’s theory that humans have an innate, genetic predisposition to connect or affiliate with nature.
biophilic city – A city that contains abundant nature; care about, seek to protect, restore and grow this nature, and that strive to foster deep connections and daily contact with the natural world.
biophilic design – An innovative method of design that incorporates elements of nature into modern design to help restore and preserve our innate need to affiliate with nature.
bioswales – Man built filtration systems that use soil, gravel, and plants to catch and process stormwater before being returned to ground water.
bollard – A short post used to divert traffic from an area or road.
car, autonomous – [see autonomous vehicle]
car, driverless – [see autonomous vehicle]
car, electric – Uses energy stored in its rechargeable batteries, which are recharged by common household electricity.
car, hybrid – A car fueled by gasoline that uses a battery to improve efficiency.
carbon credits – A permit that allows a country or organization to produce a certain amount of carbon emissions and can be traded if the full allowance is not used.
carbon footprint – The amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person, group, etc.
carbon neutral city – No net release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, especially through offsetting emissions such as by planting trees.
carbon sequestration – The process of removing carbon from the atmosphere.
carbon tax – A tax on fossil fuels, especially those used by motor vehicles, intended to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide.
carrying capacity – The uppermost threshold for the amount of humans that the earth can sustain.
change, botom-up – Change through social practices and individual choices
change, top-down – Change through policy-making and regulation
chicane – A chicane is a series of alternating mid-block curb extensions or islands that narrow the roadway and require vehicles to follow a curing S-shaped path, which discourages speeding (traffic calming). Chicanes cal also create new areas for landscaping and public space in the roadway. [see traffic calming]
chronic stresses – Stresses weaken the fabric of a city on a daily or cyclical basis [see acute shocks]
climate change – [see global climate change]
closed-loop system – A system that does not exchange matter with substances outside of its own parts.
Community Farm Alliance – A community organization strategy for connecting local farmers with the community by creating a direct local market. Typically a community member can pay up front for regular supply of fresh produce from a local farmer.
community garden – A piece of land gardened by a cooperative group of people living in the area that encourages an urban community’s food security.
Community Supported Agriculture – A system in which a farm operation is supported by shareholders within the community who share both the benefits and risks of food production.
compact city – An urban planning and urban design concept, which promotes relatively high residential density with mixed land uses. [also city of short distances]
contra-flow bicycle lanes – Bicycle lanes designed to allow bicyclists to ride in the opposite direction as motorized traffic on a one-way street.
crowdsourcing – The practice of obtaining information or input into a task or project by enlisting the services of a large number of people, either paid or unpaid, typically via the Internet.
cultural lag – The notion that culture takes time to catch up with technological innovations, and that social problems and conflicts are caused by this lag. Subsequently, cultural lag does not only apply to this idea only, but also relates to theory and explanation.
cycle track – An exclusive bicycle facility that combines the experience of an off-street bicycle path with on-street infrastructure of a conventional bicycle lane. A cycle track is physically separated from motor traffic and distinct from the sidewalk.
demographic dividend – When countries’ age structures change favorably, meaning that they have more people of working age than dependents, they can see a boost to development, provided that they empower, educate and employ their young people.
digital divide – The gulf between those who have ready access to computers and the Internet, and those who do not.
disaster, cascading – Natural disaster that leads to other disasters in a domino effect.
disaster, complex/compound – Multiple, interrelated disasters such as earthquakes, fires and floods.
disaster, na-tech (natural-technological disaster) – Natural disaster which creates a technological disaster such as power outages or nuclear incidents.
disaster, synergistic – A disaster that is increased in severity by subsequent disasters. For example, an ice-storm that creates impacts to transportation and power supply.
disaster resilience – A combination of a society’s preparedness for a hazard, their ability to mitigate, plan, and respond immediately and effectively to it, and their ability to recover and regenerate from the event.
drone [see autonomous vehicle]
eco-city – An Eco-city is a human settlement modeled on the self-sustaining resilient structure and function of natural ecosystems. An ecocity seeks to provide healthy abundance to its inhabitants without consuming more renewable resources than it replaces.
eco-innovative – The development of products and processes that contribute to sustainable development, applying the commercial application of knowledge to elicit direct or indirect ecological improvements.
ecological model – A network of relationships and interactions and theory that understands the interrelations of those relationships (example: families)
ecosystems services – Services provided by nature that humans and other organisms rely on in our everyday lives.
ecotourism – Responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment, sustains the well-being of the local people, and involves interpretation and education.
ecovillage – A community whose inhabitants seek to live according to ecological principles, causing as little impact on the environment as possible.
eGovernment – The use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve the activities of public sector organizations. Some definitions restrict e-government to Internet-enabled applications only, or only to interactions between government and outside groups. (eGovernment for Development)
electric vehicle – A vehicle which uses one or more electric motors for propulsion.
energy, alternative – Energy generated in ways that do not deplete natural resources or harm the environment, especially by avoiding the use of fossil fuels and nuclear power.
energy, non-renewable – Energy from a source that cannot be replaces, such as coal, oil, and natural gas.
energy, renewable/sustainable – Energy from a source that is not depleted when used, such as wind or solar power.
energy, solar – The energy the Earth received from the sun, primarily as visible light and other forms of electromagnetic radiation.
energy neutral – The total amount of energy used on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created on the site.
environmental justice movement – Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.
environmental racism – The disproportionate impact of environmental hazards on people of color.
environmentalism – A broad ideology concerned with protecting the environment.
equity – The absence of avoidable or remediable differences among groups of people, whether those groups are defined socially, economically, demographically, or geographically.
equity lens – A transformative quality improvement tool used to improve planning, decision-making, and resource allocation leading to more racially equitable policies and programs. At its core, it is a set of principles, reflective questions, and processes that focuses at the individual, institutional, and systemic levels. (Multnomah County)
experience economy – The next economy following the agrarian economy, the industrial economy, and the most recent service economy. [see experiential realms]
experiential design – Experience design (XD) is the practice of designing products, processes, services, events, omnichannel journeys, and environments with a focus placed on the quality of the user experience and culturally relevant solutions.
experiential realms – The Experience Economy offers four realms of experiential value to add to a business. Pine and Gilmore (1999) termed these realms, the 4Es. The 4Es consist of adding Educational, Esthetic, Escapist, and Entertainment experiences to the business.
first and last mile – Gaps in public transit which require individuals to use other forms of transportation such as driving their car or riding their bike.
food desert – This occurs when residents live more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store.
food mile – A mile over which a food item is transported from producer to consumer, as a unit of measurement of the fuel sued to do this.
garden city – Intended to be a planned, self-contained community surrounded by “greenbelts”, containing proportionate areas of residences, industry, and agriculture.
global climate change – A change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onward and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels.
global climate change adaptation – Actions taken to help communities and ecosystems cope with changing climate condition. (UNFCCC)
global climate change mitigation – Any action taken to permanently eliminate or reduce the long-term risk and hazards of climate change to human life, property. (IPCC)
global goals [see sustainable development goals]
green alleyways – Green alleyways convert underused alleyways into community assets and resources for environmental, economic and social benefits. Green alleyways activate the public space for more than vehicular use and garbage disposal and involve a combination of environmental, environmental health, economic, and social purposes.
green building – An environmentally sustainable building, designed, constructed and operated to minimize the total environmental impacts. [see living building]
green building materials – Composed of renewable and/or recycled materials, rather than nonrenewable resources.
green city – Urbanization in balance with nature. [see sustainable city]
green index – A process used to determine the amount of environmental impact a city has.
green infrastructure – Manmade structure and technology that are designed with the intent of being green, i.e. green energy in preference to dirty (non-renewable, polluting) energy.
green roof – When plants of different varieties are planted on rooftops to facilitate increased plant matter. Their function can range from aesthetic to practical insulation or food source.
green street – A street right-of-way that, through a variety of design and operational treatments, gives priority to pedestrian circulation and open space over other transportation uses. The treatments may include sidewalk widening, landscaping, traffic calming, and other pedestrian-oriented features.
green wall – A living or green wall is a self-sufficient vertical garden that is attached to the exterior or interior of a building. The living wall’s plants root in a structural support, which is fastened to the wall itself.
green wave – A purposefully designed timing of a series of traffic lights to produce a green light for bicycles traveling at the correct speed (typically 12 mph) as they arrive at the lights.
greenscape – An area of vegetation in an urban area set aside for aesthetic or recreational purposes.
greenwash – Disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image.
greenway – A strip of undeveloped land near an urban area, set aside for recreational use of environmental protection.
health, environmental – The study of how environmental factors can harm human health and how to identify, prevent, and control such effects. (University of Washington)
health, public – Public health is the science of protecting and improving the health of families and communities through promotion of healthy lifestyles, research for disease and injury prevention and detection and control of infectious diseases. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Foundation)
health disparities – Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by people who have historically been made vulnerable by policies set by local, state, and federal institutions. Populations can be defined by factors such as race or ethnicity, gender, education or income, disability, geographic location, gender identity, or sexual orientation. Health disparities are inequitable and are directly related to the historical and current unequal distribution of social, political, economic, and environmental resources. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
health equity – Health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to attain his or her full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
healthy community – One 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 the maximum potential. (World Health Organization)
high albedo pavement – High albedo concrete is a special type of pavement that reflects more light than dark-colored materials due to its lighter color. This causes the concrete to have a lower surface temperature, resulting in less energy needed to cool surrounding buildings and less energy consumed by nighttime lighting.
inclusivity – An intention or policy of including people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized, such as those who are handicapped or learning-disabled, or racial and sexual minorities.
intelligent city – [see smart city]
Internet of Things (IoT) – The interconnection via the Internet of computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data.
last mileage problem – A problem faced by transit agencies, how to get commuters to public transit without the use of individually owned automobiles.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design LEED – An ecology-oriented building certification program run under the auspices of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
living alleyways – Living alleyways are narrow, low-volume traffic streets that focus on livability, instead of parking and traffic. Living alleyways are primarily for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as spaces for social uses. Vehicles are typically still allowed access but with reduced speeds.
living building – A concept that uses nature as the ultimate measuring stick for a building’s performance.
living wall [see green wall]
low carbon city – A low carbon city reduces its carbon footprint by focusing on renewable energy and mitigation measures.
low impact development – Development which through its low negative environmental impact either enhances or does not significantly diminish environmental quality.
mid-block crossing – A location between intersections where marked crosswalks have been provided. The crosswalk may have signals or no signals. They offer a convenient location for pedestrians to cross in areas without frequent intersection crossings.
modernization – The process of adapting something to modern needs or habitats.
modular bike share – A bike share that is usually solar-powered, quick and cheap to install, has the ability to alter and move the stations, and typically does not require trenching, excavation, or other preparatory work.
Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) – The transfer, collection, and treatment of municipal solid waste.
net zero city [see zero energy city]
normalcy bias – The difficulty to comprehend the fact that a disaster is occurring.
open bottom catch basin – A component in a landscape drainage system. It is a box that is put into the ground near areas of standing water to help facilitate proper water drainage and avoid property damage.
overpopulation – The condition of having a population so dense to cause environmental deterioration, and impaired quality of life, or a population crash.
Paris Agreement – The Paris Agreement is an international treaty that seeks to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases.
permeable pavement – Permeable pavement can be asphalt, concrete, or pavers, and let stormwater filter through and drain into the ground instead of collecting on hard surfaces or draining into the sewer system. It also traps suspended solids and filters pollutant from the water.
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) – Also known as podcars, these vehicles are operated using a computer and can transport small groups of people using electric motors on light weight tracks. An example of this transportation system is in Masdar City, United Arab Emirates, which is made up of ten autonomous vehicles and is the only way of transportation throughout the city.
Plastiblocks – Construction materials, generally blocks or bricks, made from recycled plastic like materials.
pollution, plastic – Accumulation of plastic products in the environment that adversely affects wildlife, wildlife habitat, or humans.
Progressive Era (1890-1920) – A period of social and political reform that developed in response to the pitfalls of industrialization and urbanization.
psychogeography – The study of the effects of a city’s environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.
quality of life – A broad multidimensional concept that usually includes subjective evaluations of both positive and negative aspects of life. Although health is one of the important domains of overall quality of life, there are other domains as well—for instance, jobs, housing, schools, the neighborhood. Aspects of culture, values, and spirituality are also key domains of overall quality of life that add to the complexity of its measurement. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
rails to trails – The conversion of a disused railway into a multi-use path.
raised cycle track – Bicycle lanes that are vertically separated from motor vehicle traffic.
resilient city – One that has developed capacities to help absorb future shocks and stresses to its social, economic, and technical systems and infrastructures so as to still be able to maintain essentially the same functions, structures, systems, and identity.
reversible lane [see street, reversible]
Romantic Environmental Paradigm – Draws attention to the destruction and domination of nature and calls for a more harmonious relationship between humans and the natural world.
self-driving car [see driverless car]
sense of place – Either the intrinsic character of a place, or the meaning people give to it, but, more often, a mixture of both.
sharrow – An arrow with a bicycle painted on vehicular lanes to indicated that cyclists have the right to use the road alongside vehicles.
sidewalk garden – A small garden that is planted on a street sidewalk to add biodiversity to an urban landscape. It helps slow runoff and is effective in storm-water management. A sidewalk garden also includes public seating to allow the public to spend time in the alley and have a natural setting to relax in.
singularity [see technological singularity]
smart city – An urban development vision to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) and Internet of things (IoT) technology in a secure fashion to manage a city’s assets. [see smart sustainable city]
smart connections – A vital component of a smart city, incorporating transportation, online access, technology and community.
smart container – A smart container is one that can connect wirelessly to a network and relay various amounts of information to a database.
smart parking management – Parking lot sensors for drivers and property managers.
smart sustainable city – A smart sustainable city is an innovative city that uses information and communication technologies (ICTs) and other means to improve quality of life, efficiency of urban operation and services, and competitiveness, while ensuring that it meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social and environmental aspects. (ITU-T Focus Group)
smart urbanism – Smart urbanism merges information and communications technologies; energy, resource and infrastructure technologies into networks that create sustainable, resilient, regenerative, urban-rural ecosystems with vibrant communities, thriving economies and biodiverse environments.
smart street lighting – In addition to LED technology, street lighting can motion-activated and gather environmental data.
Smart Waste Management System (SWMS) – A waste management system that incorporates the use of information sensors, wireless internet, GPS tracking, and efficiency programs to assess and calculate optimal disposal strategies.
social cohesion – The willingness of members of a society to cooperate with each other in order to survive and prosper.
solar city – A city actively using solar energy to reduce or replace fossil fuels.
solar power – Power obtained by harnessing the energy of the sun’s rays.
street, multi-functional – Street made to be able to perform more than one task or function at once or accessible for more than one function. Multi-functional streets provide green infrastructure, public space, greenspace, and other functions.
street, multi-modal – Street designed for more than just car traffic and which puts priority on public transportation, walking, and biking in a safe and efficient manner.
street, reversible – These streets change directions at different times and for different purposes to maximize efficiency.
streetscape – The space that encompasses the road, sidewalk, strip, and sidewalk. Refers to the design and functionality of the area.
super app – A smartphone application that contains all kinds of services such as texting, video and voice chatting, paying, social status sharing and other programs.
superblocks – Designated areas of land in a city that keep traffic from going through the streets, making room for alternative usage of city streets.
Supertree – Singaporean engineered mechanical tree that provides solar power to Singapore, cleans the air through air-ducts, and collects rainwater for conservatories. Additionally, these trees provide green space for animals, plants, and insects to live.
sustainability – Avoidance of the depletion of natural resources to maintain an ecological balance.
sustainable city – A city designed with consideration of environmental impact, inhabited by people dedicated towards minimization of required inputs of energy, water and food, and waste output of heat, air pollution – CO2, methane, and water pollution. [also eco-city]
sustainable design – Design practices that aim to reduce waste, pollution, and unnecessary consumption of energy and resources.
sustainable development – The organizing principle for meeting human development goals while at the same time sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services upon which the economy and society depends.
sustainable development goals – – The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), officially known as Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is a set of 17 “Global Goals” with 169 targets between them.
systematic racism – A practice that prioritizes the needs of white individuals over communities of color. Argues that racism is embedded into social, political, institutional mechanisms within society.
technological singularity – The hypothesis that the invention of artificial super-intelligence will abruptly trigger runaway technological growth, resulting in unfathomable changes to human civilization. [singularity]
thinking, systems – An approach that focuses on understanding the entirety of a model and not one individual component. Systems thinking looks to understand the interactions and relationships between components of the system.
traffic calming – The deliberate slowing of traffic in residential areas by building speed bumps or other obstructions
tragedy of the commons – Economic theory of a situation within a shared-resource system where individual users acting independently according to their own self-interest behave contrary to the common good of all users by depleting or spoiling that resource through their collective action.
transition town – The terms transition town, transition initiative and transition model refer to grassroot community projects that aim to increase self-sufficiency to reduce the potential effects of peak oil, climate destruction, and economic instability.
transportation, active – Any form of human-powered transportation such as walking, biking, skating, and skiing
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) [see autonomous vehicle]
urban agriculture/farming – The practice of planting, processing, and distributing food in a town or city.
urban ecology – The scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in the context of an urban environment.
urban regeneration – Comprehensive and integrated vision and action which leads to the resolution of urban problems and which seeks to bring about a lasting improvement in the economic, physical, social and environmental condition of an area that has been subject to change.
urban resilience – The ability to adapt to changing conditions and withstand and rapidly recover from disruption due to emergencies.
urban standardization – Regulation of urban development
vertical garden/farm – An alternative form of farming stretching from the ground up, with the ability to be built in areas with limited soil space to grow crops. The indoor form of vertical gardens uses less water, less labor, and requires no sunlight due to LED lights.
waste, diverted – Matter that would be converted into waste, but instead is converted into something more useful and beneficial
waste-to-energy – Incineration of municipal solid waste that then uses the energy (in the form of heat) to produce electricity and/or steam for heating.
whitewashing – Refers to the lack of diversity within environmental organizations, causing the needs of communities of color to not be represented.
wildlife corridors – Routes designed to facilitate the migration and free movement of wildlife in and around urban areas, i.e. green belts, land bridges. A method of compensation for habitat fragmentation.
wildlife crossing – The proper term for an animal-used land bridge or underpass. [“critter crossing”]
zero carbon city – A zero-carbon city runs entirely on renewable energy; it has no carbon footprint and will in this respect not cause harm to the planet.
zero energy building [see living building]
zero energy city – A city with zero net energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the city on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created in the city.
zero waste city – A city that diverts all its waste from landfills into either reuse or recycling.