Urban Forms and Agricultural Systems: Radiocentric to Agribusiness
Radioconcentric Plan
Radioconcentric plan: A model-based urban plan that has a central node and concentric spacing around which to organize plots and avenues. These form a radial network that goes to the periphery from the center and cuts into concentric rings at other central spacings.
Garden City
Garden City: Intent to link the advantages of the countryside and the city. This involves the creation of a medium-size city separated from other urban cores by a few kilometers. Urban cores were made up of small single-family dwellings, linked by trains or main roads to the principal city.
Linear City
Linear City: A city organized along a linear transport corridor. The Garden City concept was adapted into a linear transport-driven model.
Ensanche
Ensanche: A newly created district built in numerous cities throughout the 19th century. It is a planned expansion (as opposed to disorderly city growth) and was often destined for the bourgeoisie.
Central Business District (CBD)
CBD (Central Business District): An area where commercial, business, media and recreational services are concentrated. It is characterized by accessibility, commercial traffic and a concentration of generally tall buildings due to high land prices. This area is not always clearly defined.
Bedroom City
Bedroom city: A residential area where residents commute daily to nearby zones to work in other parts of the metropolitan area.
Barraqué
Barraqué: A phenomenon consisting of slum self-construction in large cities developed during waves of immigration, especially in the 1960s. These were sometimes replaced by prefabricated housing estates (polígonos) and some infrastructures.
Metropolitan Area
Metropolitan area: The urban extension surrounding a large city; constituent municipalities are not independent economically and have important interrelations. The inner city is usually divided into: the urban center, the metropolitan-suburban area and the suburban periphery.
Conurbation
Conurbation: An urban phenomenon that occurs when two independent cities physically join due to the growth of both, while maintaining some administrative autonomy.
Social Housing
Social housing: Housing whose construction is subsidized and supported by public authorities. These dwellings are offered on the market at low prices under special acquisition conditions, intended for disadvantaged social groups.
Openfield and Bocage
Openfield–Bocage: Forms that define agricultural limits. Openfield plots are open fields without fences, while bocage plots are enclosed by natural boundaries such as hedges and tree lines that appear alongside networks of paths.
Countryside
Countryside: An agricultural landscape where land is divided into several plots, often without fences or hedgerows separating the exploitations.
Agribusiness
Agribusiness: A large-scale farm unit organized as an industrial company.
Subsistence Agriculture
Subsistence agriculture: Agricultural holdings that use traditional methods and aim primarily to provide direct food for the farmer's household.
Extensive Exploitation
Extensive exploitation: A concept referring to farms where large areas are cultivated with low yields per hectare.
Intensive Agriculture
Intensive agriculture: The cultivation of the smallest possible area to produce many high-quality products through measures such as seed selection, fertilizers, irrigation and crop rotation.