Jargon Cards: A Roxbury Project

URBAN DESIGN

The process of designing and shaping cities, towns and villages. It is a subject that utilizes elements of many professions, including landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, and civil engineering.

PEDESTRIAN REALM/ZONE

Areas of a city or neighborhood used predominantly by pedestrians (e.g. sidewalks, street benches, bus stops).

SITE PLAN

A drawing of proposed improvements to a given lot that could include new buildings, parks, or changes to the existing streetscape or landscaping.

DESIGN GUIDELINES

A set of rules that provide a shared understanding of the principal design characteristics that shape and define the neighborhood.

STREETSCAPE

The natural and built fabric of the street, as well as its design quality and visual effect. Streetscaping recognizes that a street is a public place where people engage in various activities, included but not limited to vehicle transit.

URBAN TREE CANOPY

The layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that cover the ground when viewed from above. In cities, the urban tree canopy stops rainfall that would otherwise run off of paved surfaces and be transported into local waters.

ACTIVATED STREETS

Streets that have a lot of pedestrian activity at all hours of the day and night.

When planners talk about ‘activating streets’ they are hoping that an increase in street life will lead to safer neighborhoods.

PLACEMAKING

The process of creating quality places that people want to live, work, play and learn in.

PUBLIC ART

Art in any media (or form) that has been thought of and carried out with the purpose of being shown/on display in a public area, usually outside and accessible to all.

OPEN SPACE

Any open piece of land that is undeveloped (has no buildings or other built structures) and is accessible to the public. Open space can include or imply ‘green space’ (i.e. land that is partly or completely covered with grass, trees, bushes, or other vegetation).

PUBLIC REALM

It is made up by the streets, squares, parks, green spaces and other outdoor places that require no key to access them and are available, without charge for everyone to use.

WALKABILITY

A measure of how friendly an area is to walking. It is argued that there are many health, environmental, and economic benefits to places that are more walkable.

COMMUNITY GREEN SPACE

Land that is partly or completely covered with grass, trees, bushes, or other vegetation and that is publicly accessible. Green space may include parks, community gardens, cemeteries, etc.

COMMON ACRONYMS

An abbreviation formed from the initial letters of other words often used in urban planning jargon.

LIHTC

Low Income Housing Tax Credit: A tax incentive intended to increase the availability of low-income housing. The program provides an income tax credit to owners of newly constructed or substantially rehabilitated low-income rental housing projects.

NIMBY

Not-In-My-Backyard: A person who disagrees with the placement of something perceived as unpleasant or potentially dangerous in their own neighborhood, such as a landfill or hazardous waste facility, especially while raising no such objections to similar developments elsewhere.

TIF

Tax Increment Financing: A program/district with the ability to capture and use most of the increased local property tax revenues from new development within a defined geographic area for a defined period of time.

TOD

Transit Oriented Development: Aims to create development (e.g. shops, housing, services) close to public transportation, which creates compact, walkable communities that are less dependent on automobiles.

HUD

Department of Housing & Urban Development: a U.S. government agency created in 1965 to support community development and home ownership. Cities and neighborhoods rely on a number of programs managed, monitored, and funded by HUD.

CDC

Community Development Corporation: Nonprofit, community-based organizations focused on revitalizing the areas in which they are located, typically low-income, underserved neighborhoods that have experienced significant disinvestment.

CDBG

Community Development Block Grant: A federal program that provides grant funds to local and state governments with the goal of developing viable urban communities by providing decent housing with a suitable living environment and expanding economic opportunities to assist lowand moderate-income residents.

BRT

Bus Rapid Transit: A bus-based public transport system designed to improve capacity and reliability relative to a conventional bus system. It aims to combine the speed of a metro with the flexibility, lower cost and simplicity of a bus system.

RFP

Request for Proposal: A competitive process used by government agencies, non-profit organizations and businesses to solicit bids for products and services.

NGO

Non-Governmental Organization: Any non-profit, voluntary citizens' group which is organized on a local, national or international level.

AMI

Area Median Income: Used to define income eligibility, the AMI is determined on an annual basis by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

FAR

Floor-Area-Ratio: the relationship between the total amount of usable floor area that a building has, or has been permitted for the building, and the total area of the lot on which the building stands.

HOUSING

Houses and apartments considered collectively.

MIXED USE DEVELOPMENT

A mixed-use development is a real estate project with planned integration of some combination of retail, office, residential, hotel, recreation or other functions.

LAND USE

Land use is the human use of land for different purposes or economic activities. Typical categories for land use are residential use (i.e. housing), commercial use (i.e. shops or offices), industrial use, transport, recreational use or nature protection areas.

COOPERATIVE

Housing in which each member shares in the ownership of the whole project with the exclusive right to occupy a specific unit and to participate in project operations through the purchase of stock.

(POPULATION) DENSITY

The number of people inhabiting a given area. The ‘density’ of a proposed development is often measured in terms of the number of units, per the total amount of floors in a building.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Generally refers to housing for which the occupant(s) is/are paying no more than 30 percent of his or her income for gross housing costs, including utilities.

Some jurisdictions in the United States may define affordable housing based on other, locally determined criteria.

MIXED INCOME HOUSING

A development that is comprised of housing units with differing levels of affordability, typically with some market-rate housing and some housing that is available to low-income occupants below market-rate.

INCLUSIONARY ZONING

Also known as inclusionary housing, this is a local ordinance that requires a given amount of new construction to be affordable by people with low to moderate incomes.

Most inclusionary programs offer developers incentives, such as density bonuses, faster approval, or fee waivers. (Note: Boston has a policy called Inclusionary Development Policy or IDP)

INCENTIVE ZONING

A technique used by the government that provides developers with more density (or height) in exchange for community improvements. For example, community benefits may include additional open space, affordable housing, special building features, or public art.

STAKEHOLDERS

A person who has an interest in, or a concern about, something or a project.

COMMUNITY LAND TRUST

Nonprofit, community-based organizations whose mission is to provide affordable housing in perpetuity by owning land and leasing it to those who live in houses built on that land.

LINKAGE FEES

Fees levied on large-scale non-residential developments as a means of providing benefits to Boston residents who may be affected by development in their neighborhoods. The proceeds are used to fund the construction of affordable housing residential developments and to fund job training programs.

ARTICLE 80

A process adopted by the the BPDA to provide clear guidelines for the development review process relating to large projects (adding more than 50,000 square feet), small projects (greater than 20,000 square feet), planned development areas (new overlay zoning districts for project areas larger than 1 acre), and institutional master plans (projects relating to academic and medical campuses) in Boston.

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BUZZWORDS

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A word or phrase, often an item of jargon, that is fashionable at a particular time or in a particular context.

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SUSTAINABILITY

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A concept that describes the concern with how needs of the present are met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

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CLIMATE CHANGE

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A long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average temperature.

Also known as “global warming�.

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EMINENT DOMAIN

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An exercise of the power of government or quasi-government agencies (such as airport authorities, highway commissions, community development agencies, and utility companies) to take private property for public use.

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EQUITY

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Fairness or justice in the way people are treated (often with respect to their race, gender or socioeconomic status).

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TACTICAL URBANISM

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Small-scale, low-cost improvements and changes in the urban environment, in an effort to effect large-scale, long-term change.

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DISPLACEMENT

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The impact of increasing housing prices in a neighborhood caused by neighborhood reinvestment and major infrastructure investments.

Displacement causes those not able to afford to live in the neighborhood anymore to move elsewhere.

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URBAN REVITALIZATION

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A process that occurs when an urban area (e.g. neighborhood, block, etc.) in social and/or economic decline undergoes a transformation in order to reverse the declining trend.

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(BUSINESS) INCUBATOR

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A workspace created to offer businesses and new ventures access to the resources they need, in one building/space. It is often seen as a way to ‘revitalize’ or attract small business to an area.

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CONNECTIVITY

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A principle in urban design, it describes the extent to which urban forms permit (or restrict) movement of people or vehicles in different directions.

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COWORKING SPACE

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A style of work that involves a shared working environment, often an office, and independent activity.

Like a business ‘incubator’, coworking spaces have, in recent years, been seen by cities as ways to ‘revitalize’ or attract small business to different areas.

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URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT

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An urban area that has a higher average temperature than its rural surroundings because of the greater absorption, retention, and generation of heat by its buildings, pavements, and human activities. Certain areas within cities may experience the urban heat island effect more drastically than other areas of the city.

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FOOD DESERT

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Part(s) of a city without access to fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthy whole foods. The USDA defines a food desert as an area where: “at least 500 people and/or at least 33 percent of the census tract's population must live more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (for rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles).

GENTRIFICATION

Gentrification is a very controversial word and holds both negative and positive connotations depending on the person you ask. On the one hand it is understood to mean the process by which higher income households displace/price out significant numbers of lower income residents, changing the character of the neighborhood.

On the other hand it is used to describe an increase in investment in a neighborhood that has traditionally not seen much development. The different meanings of and metrics for this word is what makes it so tricky to define, and even trickier to use.

RESILIENCE

The ability of communities to recover from setbacks, adapt well to change, and keep going in the face of adversity. In city planning, this term is most often used in reference to social, economic and environmental resiliency.