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Undeveloped – see
economically less developed countries.
UNESCO –
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29008&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
UNHCR –
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. An office
of the UN which oversees the welfare of refugees,
encouraging recipient governments to grant asylum to genuine
requests and sometimes providing financial assistance so
that they may do so.
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home
Urban –
built-up area. Settlements are usually designated as urban
once they have grown large enough to support industries
which are not rural in nature. However, no common figure can
be put on the necessary size as settlements function
differently in different areas due to local circumstances.
Urban
climate – the climate of an urban area is distinct from the
general conditions for the region in which it is located due
to the energy released through human activity.
Urban
decay – aging inner city areas often experience a loss of
industry meaning fewer jobs and triggering a downward spiral
of economic and therefore social decline.
Urban
Development Corporations – bodies set up in the 1980s to
oversee partnerships between government and the private
sector whose goal was to regenerate inner city areas in the
UK which had suffered
urban decay.
Urban
fringe – the mixed marginal area lying outside the
established urban area where the rural characteristics are
increasingly overshadowed by encroaching urban features such
as new housing, shopping centres,
industrial estates
and the like.
Urban
heat island – the higher temperature found over and around
an urban area created by the release of solar energy from
the solid fabric of the buildings, roads etc., coupled with
energy released by human activity such as lighting, heating,
air-conditioning and/or vehicles and industry.
Urban
land-use – the spatial differences and similarities in
certain types of land-use in urban areas which allow
tracking of the history of their development and thus can be
useful for future planning.
Urban
regeneration – the improvement of urban areas which have
been in decline.
Urban
sprawl – the unchecked spread in the land area occupied by
an urban area when development is low-rise and it is felt
that space efficiency is not an issue.
Urbanization – the increasing percentage of a population
living in urban areas due to
rural-urban migration
and higher levels of
natural increase in the urban
areas.
U-shaped
valley – see
glacial valley.
Utility
– an industry providing a service such as power and water.
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