Definition+of+Terms

1. Urbanization
An increasing percentage of a country’s population that comes to live in towns and cities.

2. Urban growth
It is the increase in the size of a particular settlement or an increase in the number of people living in urban centres.

3. Urban sprawl
The unplanned and uncontrolled physical expansion of an urban area into the surrounding countryside. It is closely linked to the process of suburbanization.

4. Reurbanisation
The development of activities to increase residential population densities within the existing built-up area of a city. This may include the redevelopment of vacant land, the refurbishment of housing and the development of new business enterprises.

5. Counter ‑ urbanization
The movement of population away from inner urban areas to a new town, a new estate, a commuter town or a village on the edge or just beyond the city limits/rural–urban fringe.

6. Brownfield site
Abandoned, derelict or under ‑ used industrial buildings and land that may be contaminated but have potential for redevelopment.

7. Suburb
A residential area within or just outside the boundaries of a city.

8. Ecological footprint
The theoretical measurement of the amount of land and water a population requires to produce the resources it consumes and to absorb its waste under prevailing technology.

9. Suburbanization
The outward growth of towns and cities to engulf surrounding villages and rural areas. This may result from the out ‑ migration of population from the inner urban area to the suburbs or from inward rural–urban movement.