urbanadj.n.
/ˈəːb(ə)n/, U.S. /ˈərbən/ A. adj.
1.
a. Relating to, situated or occurring in, or characteristic of, a town or city, esp. as opposed to the countryside.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town or city > [adjective]
towna1425
townishc1425
urbane1533
townslike1574
urban1619
townly1822
towny1823
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > city > [adjective]
cityc1330
civila1593
civical1602
urban1619
urbicarian1654
civic1656
urbian1710
urbic1855
1619 A. Gardyne Lyf William Elphinstoun 71 in Theatre Sc. Worthies (1878) Vrban and tunishe turns, Or for the land's effairs,..his wit Him fit for all declairs.
1672 Duke of Buckingham Rehearsal iii. ii. 28 I'l go rage among My Blades encamp'd, and quit this Vrban throng.
c1770 Encycl. Brit. II. 912 Predial servitudes are divided into rural servitudes, or of lands; and urban servitudes, or of houses.
1780 Edinb. Advertiser 9–13 June 376/3 Total upset price of the urban tenements, L. 633 5 6.
1819 C. Lamb in Examiner 14 Feb. 108/2 I include all urban and all rural sounds.
1845 R. W. Hamilton Inst. Pop. Educ. iii. 42 It is contended that urban labour is engrossing, unhealthy, and demoralising.
1879 W. E. Gladstone Gleanings Past Years I. v. 157 We..are apt to say that the influence of money..is a considerable element in the strength of urban Toryism.
1914 H. G. Wells Social Forces in Eng. & Amer. 143 A migration to and fro between rural and urban conditions would be entirely practicable in a largely planned community.
1941 G. Chase Music of Spain Introd. 17 Such hybrid manifestations as urban street music and popular theatrical music.
1952 G. H. Dury Map Interpr. xiii. 150 A long period of slow urban growth in which the street plan evolved, as it were, by natural selection.
2007 P. Parsons City Sharp-nosed Fish iv. 46 Up-country and up-Nile, half-hellenised towns compete in urban splendour.
b. That constitutes or includes (part of) a town or city.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town or city > [adjective] > constituting a town or city
urban1815
1815 Times 5 Aug. 2/2 The limits and the administration of the districts and communes, both rural and urban, shall be regulated by statutes.
1867 A. O. Rutson Ess. Reform 297 The activity of mind and the zeal for improvement which belong to urban constituencies.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. II. lxi. 433 A ‘town’ in New England..is a rural not an urban area.
1928 Sunday Disp. 30 Sept. 11/2 Mr. Shaw designates our modern urban communities ‘bungaloid promiscuities’.
1961 L. Mumford City in Hist. x. 290 As for the disposal of ordure, this has always been the bête noire of close urban settlements.
2008 Atlantic Monthly Jan. 66/2 The rickshaw economy, as much an animating force in urban areas as the search for usable soil is in villages.
2. That has authority or jurisdiction over a town or city.In quot. 1651 used by the author in place of his usual urbane (cf. quot. 1651 at urbane adj. 1b).
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society > authority > rule or government > a or the system of government > centralized or regionalized systems > [adjective] > relating to municipal government
urbane1601
municipal1602
urban1651
1651 J. Howell S.P.Q.V. 16 All Magistrats are either Urban or Forren, viz. of Town or Countrey.
1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. T. Boccalini Ragguagli di Parnasso i. xxxiv. 60 Publius Terentius being by order from Giasone dol Maino, an Urban Pretor, charged with Fornication; is by Apollo freed.
a1704 T. Brown Walk round London in 3rd Vol. Wks. (1708) iii. 50 The pathetick Harangue of that Urban Magistrate a R——r.
1815 J. C. Hobhouse Substance Lett. (1816) II. 17 The national guard of Paris,..that urban guard whose patriotism and approved zeal [etc.].
1872 Act 35 & 36 Vict. c. 79 §4 Urban sanitary authorities shall be the several bodies of persons specified [etc.].
1886 Encycl. Brit. XX. 145/2 The Urban Quæstors.
a1900 H. Sidgwick Devel. European Polity (1903) xi. 166 The proconsular power..had always been conceived as more indefinite in extent and duration than the power of any urban magistrate.
1973 Guardian 24 Dec. 13/6 The idea of..‘community councils’ or ‘urban parish councils’ is based on the simple proposition that there is no urban equivalent of the rural parish council and that there should be.
1998 I. G. Heggie & P. Vickers Commerc. Managem. & Financing of Roads v. 46/2 Many countries operate a system in which the urban authority has responsibility for all roads.
3. That resides in or has property in a town or city.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabiting a type of place > [adjective] > inhabiting town or city
city dwelling1593
urbane1601
burgessing1663
urban1762
town-dwelling1829
urbanized1884
townee1907
1762 W. J. Mickle Providence 49 The urban Youth A joyless melancholy wretch esteems The lonely Shepherd on the bleak hill side.
1829 Westm. Rev. 11 384 The Roman plebs..was divided into four urban and some rustic tribes.
1873 J. Morley Struggle for National Educ. 95 The brutalising lives that are led by the rural and urban poor in their crowded hovels.
1889 Spectator 14 Dec. 834 How do they justify the absorption of the increment of value from urban landholders alone?
1926 Zionist Rev. Apr. 144/2 Splendid prospects exist for good table-grapes in those parts of Palestine where the Jewish urban population is growing.
1964 A. S. Byatt Shadow of Sun x. 230 To the urban English a hot sun and wide spaces are mystery and freedom enough.
2007 B. Kingsolver Animal, Veg., Miracle xv. 253 Urban Italians routinely made trips to the countryside to visit relatives and friends who were still on the farm.
4. Originally U.S.
a. Originally Broadcasting. Of or relating to any of a variety of genres of popular music of a type chiefly associated with black performers; designating this type of music; = urban contemporary n. and adj. (b) at Compounds.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > type of music > pop music > [adjective] > qualities of pop
metal?1518
anthemic1890
Afro-Latin-American1900
sun-kissed1907
heavy1937
Latin American1937
Memphis1938
sun-drenched1943
indie1945
rockish1955
hardcore1957
doo-wop1958
middle of the road1959
Latin1962
straight-ahead1964
easy listening1965
Motown1965
funky1967
post-rock1967
rocky1967
rock-out1968
funkadelic1969
funked out1970
grungy1971
punk1971
grunge1972
Philly1972
dub1973
drum and bass1975
disco funky1976
punkish1976
reggaefied1976
Britpop1977
post-punk1977
anarcho-punk1979
rap1980
trash rock1980
crunchy1981
industrial1981
New Romantic1981
rockist1981
garage1982
hip-hop1982
thrashy1982
urban1982
Gothic1983
hip-hopping1983
beat-box1984
lo-fi1986
technoid1986
hip-house1987
acid house1988
new jack1988
old school1988
techno1988
baggy1990
banging1990
gangsta1990
filthy1991
handbaggy1991
nu skool1991
sampladelic1991
junglist1993
1982 Billboard 5 June bm6/1 Whether you call it ‘black’ or ‘disco’ or ‘dance music’ or ‘urban’, it is a format that is winning large shares in many diverse markets... In New York City, the three urban stations combined have over a 15% share of the market.
1987 N.Y. Amsterdam News 17 Jan. 23/1 A club favorite, also getting exceptional rotation on urban radio stations.
1997 Music Business Internat. (Nexis) June 45 Charts around the world have become liberally sprinkled with US urban acts such as Toni Braxton, R Kelly, Az Yet, Puff Daddy, BlackStreet and Mary J Blige.
2006 G. Malkani Londonstani xiv. 171 If you don't like it then you have to ban urban music and MTV Base.
b. Esp. of fashion: characteristic of or relating to the subculture associated with this type of music. Also: of or relating to black (esp. African-American) popular or youth culture generally.
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1990 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times 15 Dec. 1 d/2 As a film maker, Lee is a curator of urban fashion trends... The characters he has created..have all left imprints on the trends of black style. There's Mookie's Brooklyn Dodger's jersey and fade hair-cut, Mars' bicycle cap with the brim flipped up and unlaced black high-tops.
1992 Black Enterprise (Nexis) June 186 (caption) Carl Jones and Thomas Walker have made Solo Joint's Cross Colours urban sportswear line..a runaway success.
1994 N.Y. Mag. 20 June 66/1 As recently as the late seventies, professional basketball had been given up for dead. Too urban, marketers whispered, meaning ‘too black’.
2001 Guardian 7 Apr. (Guide Suppl.) 15/1 When Dunwitty browbeats the Ivy League-educated creative, played by Damon Wayans, into dreaming up a saleable urban comedy, the angry writer comes back with a 21st-century minstrel show.
2008 Ebony Oct. 27/1 As a young woman who embraces and loves hip-hop and urban culture, I find the fashion trend of ‘saggin’ pants for men and women to be quite ridiculous.
B. n.
1. A person who belongs to or lives in a town or city.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > town- or city-dweller > [noun]
borough-manc1000
city mana1400
townsman1433
town manc1475
town dweller1484
oppidan?1548
burgher?1555
townsfolk1562
townsfolk1592
townswoman1612
town liver1620
town folk1679
citess1685
citizeness1754
citizette1798
townie1825
urban1835
townskip1837
townsperson1840
urbanite1892
burgheress1901
1835 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 149/1 To say nothing now of the Urbans and Suburbans—a perilous people.
1885 G. Meredith Diana of Crossways III. ii. 44 ‘With nature's woman, if he can find her, the urban seems equally at home,’ said Lady Dunstane.
1914 S. A. B. Joseph Jewish Immigration to U.S. iv. 76 Depending for their support upon the urbans.., the bureaucracy have acted in harmony with the middle classes.
1945 J. R. R. Tolkien Let. 30 Jan. (1995) 110 The converted urban gets more out of the country than the mere yokel.
2008 Times Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 17 June d6 People with joi de vivre, young urbans with a positive outlook and creative lifestyle.
2. British. = urban district council n. at Compounds.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > local government body > [noun] > district council
rural district council1888
urban district council1888
district council1894
RDC1904
U.D.C.1905
rural1952
urban1952
1952 M. Laski Village ii. 40 ‘What do you think of this proposal to bring us under Walbridge Urban?’.. ‘Well, I suppose it might mean some street lighting.’
1954 Times 19 Mar. 10/4 He was glad that the four associations had submitted their agreed proposals—the counties, urbans, rurals, and the parishes.
1974 J. Brand Local Govt. Reform in Eng. iii. 128 Perhaps it was that the AMC no longer had much energy left for a fight. Instead it combined with the urbans and rurals to press for more district powers.
Compounds
urban agriculture n. the practice of farming within an urban environment, especially the cultivation of food crops for consumption by local communities.
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the world > food and drink > farming > [noun] > types of farming
high culture1771
scientific farming1789
metaying1792
high farming1815
petite culture1848
sharefarming1857
urban agriculture1860
bush-farming1866
mixed farming1872
dry farming1878
co-aration1883
co-ploughing1883
smallholding1889
power-farming1913
dry-land farming1914
third(s)-and-fourth(s)1940
link system1950
green revolution1968
1860 Westmorland Gaz. 6 Oct. 7/2 The fact of the corn field being situated in the ‘heart of the city’..was mentioned at the time. We have again to notice the progress of this urban agriculture.
1894 Jeffersonville (Indiana) News 28 July One peculiar result of the hard times, and one that might be profitably retained even after they should be over, is the increase of urban agriculture.
1957 Econ. Geogr. 33 236/ Winter crop patterns with emphasis on multiple cropping of vegetables most clearly characterize urban agriculture wherever it is seen in southern Japan.
2019 Guardian (Nexis) 25 Apr. Urban agriculture is a growing trend around the world, with rooftop farms such as New York's Brooklyn Grange supplying produce for the local community.
urban blight n. (the development or existence of) derelict or unsightly areas in a town or city.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > [noun] > town-planning or development > lack of planning
cardboard city1876
urban blight1934
urban sprawl1934
sprawl1955
1934 Rep. Calif. State Planning Board 61 in State Planning (Nat. Resources Board) (1935) iii. ix. 279 It is part of the work of a State planning board to subject the problems of urban blight and decay to intensive study.
1975 M. Bradbury Hist. Man i. 14 A real town of urban blight and renewal, social tensions, discrimination.
2001 T. J. Gilman No Miracles Here ii. 57 A federally driven attempt to revive cities throughout the United States by razing whole sections of urban blight.
urban contemporary n. and adj. originally Broadcasting (chiefly U.S.) (a) n. (a general term for) a variety of genres of popular dance music, chiefly associated with black performers, including R&B, hip-hop, drum and bass, house, techno, and soul music and frequently reflecting inner-city social themes and attitudes; (b) adj. of, relating to, or designating this type of music.
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1980 Billboard 18 Oct. 23/1 Urban contemporary comes from inner city listeners... About 20 markets are big enough to support an urban contemporary format.
1992 N.Y. Times 14 June iii. 6/3 Shipments of urban contemporary music, as a percentage of the dollar value of all music shipments made to record stores. ‘Urban contemporary’ includes rap music, but also rhythm and blues, soul, funk, Motown and reggae.
2001 Quad City Times (Davenport, Iowa) 3 May (Go! section) 16/2 A flickering slice of urban contemporary.
urban decay n. the degeneration of the buildings and infrastructure in an urban area; (also) the result of this.
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1934 Law & Contemp. Probl. 1 164 I have offered in some detail one proposal for reversing the process of urban decay.
1989 R. Graef Talking Blues ii. 53 Tension had been growing for a decade between the police and the long-established West Indian community living in serious urban decay in Liverpool 8.
2010 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 14 Feb. a27 Through urban decay and revival, Greektown has endured as an enclave in a city of neighborhoods.
urban district n. (also with upper-case initials) an administrative area comprising a town or city, spec. a subdivision of a county in an urban area of England and Wales, as constituted by the Local Government Act of 1894 (see quot. 1894) and abolished by the Local Government Act of 1972 (now historical); cf. district n. 3b.
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society > authority > rule or government > territorial jurisdiction or areas subject to > an administrative division of territory > [noun] > administrative divisions in Britain > urban district
urban district1840
1840 Times 15 Apr. 5/2 Where a borough being a county in itself, comprehended a rural district, not suited to be part of a corporate town, such borough and county were reduced to the proper bounds of an urban district.
1894 Act 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73 §21 Urban sanitary authorities shall be called urban district councils, and their districts shall be called urban districts.
1961 Kentish Times 28 July 10 There is little land left in the urban district, with its Green Belt setting, for either Council or private developer.
1997 A. Olechnowicz Working-class Housing in Eng. between Wars iv. 120 A part of the estate became an Urban District with 16 councillors.
urban district council n. (also with upper-case initials) now historical the local council of an Urban District (see urban district n.); abbreviated U.D.C.
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society > authority > rule or government > ruler or governor > deliberative, legislative, or administrative assembly > local government body > [noun] > district council
rural district council1888
urban district council1888
district council1894
RDC1904
U.D.C.1905
rural1952
urban1952
1888 Leeds Mercury 20 Mar. 4/7 In the boroughs, of course, the Town Councils will be the future Urban District Councils.
1922 Encycl. Brit. XXX. 81/2 The powers conferred upon the [Food Production] Department by D.O.R.A. [= the Defence of the Realm Act], which were delegated to town and urban district councils, enabled them to take possession of any unoccupied land for the purpose of letting it as allotments.
1994 T. Byrne Local Govt. in Brit. (ed. 6) ii. 19 The Local Government Act 1894..created elected urban district councils (UDCs) and rural district councils (RDCs), which were based on consolidated sanitary districts.
urban folklore n. originally and chiefly U.S. the folklore of contemporary industrialized societies; (now usually) urban legends collectively.
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1938 Mod. Lang. Jrnl. 23 199 Street cries are distinctive from folk-songs in that they rather originate in urban centers than in rural districts; William Ellery Leonard has well called them ‘urban folklore.’
1960 Jrnl. Negro Hist. 45 199 As examples of urban folklore, another field deserving deeper study, tales like ‘The Ghostly Hitchhiker’ and ‘The Death Car’ are traced in some detail.
1986 Campaign (Nexis) 6 June Urban folk-lore (which for once seems to be rooted in solid fact) has it that London is carved up between two gangs.
2000 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) (Electronic ed.) 28 Oct. ‘It's urban folklore completely,’ he says of the ghost stories. ‘You can't prove any of this.’
urban forest n. a city or town with many trees; a wooded area in a city; (in later use) spec. (a piece of) land in an urban area officially set aside for woodland.
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1843 E. P. Belden Sketches Yale Coll. iii. i. 145 The sun gleams up through the branches of this urban forest.
1892 Munsey's Mag. Feb. 516/1 Two tortuous lakes add variety to this urban forest.
1970 P. Dansereau Challenge for Survival 25 The acquisition of land for protection and limited productivity as urban forest or parkland.
1995 Independent on Sunday 9 Apr. 7/2 Together with..the Black Country urban forest at Walsall, it will provide a network of new city forests stretching from Newcastle to Bristol.
urban guerrilla n. a terrorist or irregular combatant operating in an urban area.
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society > armed hostility > warrior > guerrilla > [noun]
statizer1616
privateer1676
partisan1692
bush-fighter1760
guerrilla1809
guerrillero1832
filibuster1861
mujahid1885
urban guerrilla1946
1946 Marion (Ohio) Star 5 Mar. 2/1 They are urban guerrillas who owe no loyalty to anyone but themselves.
1972 Guardian 17 Jan. 11/2 The army..is claiming only that it has the measure of the urban guerrilla in Belfast.
1998 N.Y. Times 23 Apr. a8/2 The last remaining urban guerrillas of the Red Army Faction announced this week that they had dissolved their organization.
urban guerrilla warfare n. hostile action (such as bombings, kidnappings, etc.) carried out by urban guerrillas.
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society > armed hostility > war > types of war > [noun] > guerrilla war
guerrilla1819
guerrilla war1843
urban guerrilla warfare1962
asymmetrical conflict1967
asymmetric warfare1991
1962 Corpus Christi (Texas) Times 14 Jan. 1/4 The massive show of Army determination to curb urban guerrilla warfare.
1976 Bull. Atomic Scientists Oct. 30/1 The techniques of political terrorism and urban guerrilla warfare have proved..effective against the industrially advanced nations.
1992 Economist 15 Feb. 70/1 The ‘Afghans’ are held responsible for most acts of urban guerrilla warfare.
urban jungle n. a dangerous, bewilderingly complex, or fast-paced urban environment; an urban area characterized by ruthless competition, struggle, or exploitation.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town or city > part of town or city > [noun] > disreputable
purlieu1619
urban jungle1849
cardboard city1876
skid road1880
skid row1931
New Jack City1989
1849 Times 22 Oct. 4/5 The neighbouring inhabitants of New Oxford-street strive to shut out, by hoardings 20 feet high, the loathsome exhalations of this urban jungle.
1926 N.Y. Times Mag. 14 Mar. 2 (heading) Wild urban jungle has no terrors for man: Humanity adjusts itself quickly to the cliff-dwelling life here and learns to survive its dangers.
1968 Internat. Migration Rev. 2 12 In the cities the chain communities had the character of the settled ‘urban village’ rather than the unsettled delinquency-prone atmosphere of the ‘urban jungle’, so often formed in the U.S.A. in the days of mass immigration.
1997 Time Out N.Y. 31 July 8/3 My urban-jungle pulse slowed to half its rate as I entered this cool, pillowed, otherworldly Korean oasis.
urban legend n. originally U.S. an entertaining story or piece of information circulated as though true.
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society > communication > information > [noun] > misinformation
misinformation1587
bum steer1898
urban legend1931
myth-information1966
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > fabrication of statement or story > a false or foolish tale > [noun] > a fable, myth
feigning1388
legend1581
fabulosity1601
myth1849
urban legend1931
urban myth1982
1931 Vanity Fair July 39/1 Mr. Markey has collected a handful of the most persistent urban legends—of the sort that usually are told with the familiar preamble: ‘You can really believe this one because it happened to a very close friend of my Aunt Maria's’.
1968 R. M. Dorson in T. P. Coffin Our Living Trad. xiv. 166 Ubiquitous urban legends deal with the ghostly hitchhiker,..the stolen grandmother,..and the death car.
1986 Times (Nexis) 10 Aug. The myths [about radiation from microwave ovens] are called ‘urban legends’ by the Department of Trade.
2001 Washington Times (Electronic ed.) 9 Jan. Recent cyberspace myths have included..the urban legend about prospective gang members who drive with their headlights off and shoot any driver who signals them to turn them on.
urban municipality n. Canadian an incorporated city, town, village, or township; cf. rural municipality n. at rural adj. and n. Compounds 2.
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1872 Canada Law Jrnl. May 108/1 The liberality with which our rural and urban municipalities have subscribed to the stock of the various companies.
1914 R. E. Gosnell in A. Shortt & A. G. Doughty Canada & its Provinces XXII. 384 The rural municipalities..were the first to exempt improvements from taxation, and now the urban municipalities of Vancouver, Victoria and Prince Rupert have followed their example.
2010 Times Colonist (Victoria, Brit. Columbia) (Nexis) 3 Apr. e1 Roosters are not permitted in any urban municipality.
urban myth n. originally U.S. = urban legend n.
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1982 N.Y. Times 19 May b3/1 Flaherty is chief of design in the New York City Bureau of Sewers, but he is also the resident expert on the most durable urban myth in the history of cities, reptiles or waste disposal... ‘There are no alligators in the New York City sewer system.’
1986 Toronto Star (Nexis) 18 Apr. d23 Urban myths..are welded together as the story unfolds.
2001 Western Gaz. (Electronic ed.) 11 Jan. A Somerset Women's Institute branch has issued a warning to its members about a telephone scam being operated by jail birds—but telecommunications bosses have dismissed it as an urban myth.
urban planner n. a person who works in urban planning; cf. planner n. 1a.
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1913 Evening Independent (Massillon, Ohio) 16 Jan. 4/1 The splendid plan for the national capital, which expert urban planners and artists have devised.
1942 Public Admin. Rev. 2 28/2 The basic problem of the modern urban planner..is that of adjusting available urban resources to people in as effective a manner as possible.
2001 F. Popcorn & A. Hanft Dict. Future 59 Mayors and urban planners are looking at the best ways to manage infill.
urban planning n. the planning and regulation of building, development, reconstruction, etc., in an urban area; cf. town planning n.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > [noun] > town-planning or development
development1874
urbanism1884
town planning1906
city planning1907
urban planning1907
redevelopment1908
housing development1912
structure planning1969
1907 Amer. Architect & Building News 17 Aug. 53 (title) Urban planning.
1945 L. Mumford City Devel. xii. 130 The park system is thus the very spearhead of comprehensive urban planning.
2007 Ecologist July 20/2 Urban planning should be about protecting communities and high streets from destruction by badly monitored commercial forces.
urban regeneration n. the process of improving derelict or dilapidated districts of a city, typically through redevelopment.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > [noun] > town-planning or development > types of planning or development
urban regeneration1850
spotting1856
Haussmannization1865
peacocking1892
ribbon development1925
ribbon building1926
urban renewal1938
infilling1943
strip development1955
arcology1969
1850 S. Judd Richard Edney & Governor's Family xlix. 450 A part of the system of urban regeneration.
1960 Proc. Acad. Polit. Sci. 27 10 They [sc. the new facilities] should have been strategically placed around the city to serve as the nuclei of new urban regeneration.
2005 Guardian 25 Jan. i. 10/1 But her attempt to graft the concept of regional ‘supercasinos’ on to the bill as a vehicle for urban regeneration prompted a backlash.
urban renewal n. originally U.S. the redevelopment of areas within a town or city, typically involving the clearance of slums or derelict sites; also in extended use.
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the world > action or operation > amending > restoration > [noun] > reconstruction > specifically of decayed or devastated area
renewal1721
reconstruction1784
urban renewal1938
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > [noun] > town-planning or development > types of planning or development
urban regeneration1850
spotting1856
Haussmannization1865
peacocking1892
ribbon development1925
ribbon building1926
urban renewal1938
infilling1943
strip development1955
arcology1969
1938 Social Forces 17 123/1 A constructive policy of..urban renewal.
1966 H. Nielsen After Midnight (1967) iv. 61 He heads some extremist group... Sort of an urban renewal project of the Ku Klux Klan.
1984 Times 24 Apr. 13/4 Our delegation visited and discussed urban renewal.
2007 Wallpaper June 139/1 San Francisco's latest urban renewal scheme is as green as it is grand.
urban–rural adj. of or relating to both a city or town and the countryside; designating interaction or comparison between the two; cf. rural–urban adj. at rural adj. and n. Compounds 2.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town and country > [adjective]
rural–urban1852
urban–rural1893
1893 Times 17 Nov. 6/4 In a new clause they should seek to extend many of the valuable powers of the Bill to what might be called urban-rural parishes.
1953 A. E. Smailes Geogr. of Towns ii. 33 There is no longer either socially or physically a simple clear-cut dichotomy of town and country; rather it is an urban-rural continuum.
2000 Econ. Affairs 20 60/3 There are papers on..urban-rural issues.
urban sprawl n. the uncontrolled expansion of an urban area into the surrounding countryside; an area characterized by this.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > [noun] > town-planning or development > lack of planning
cardboard city1876
urban blight1934
urban sprawl1934
sprawl1955
1934 Times 12 Apr. 9/3 We shall be willing to cooperate..in the establishment of a green belt round greater London, which is already too vast in its urban sprawl.
1979 Monitor (McAllen, Texas) 8 July 8 d/3 Houston's urban sprawl is greater than that of Los Angeles.
1996 C. Bateman Of Wee Sweetie Mice & Men xxxviii. 300 The rain let up, the traffic began to get heavier as we approached the urban sprawl of New York.
urban tribe n. Roman History a political division of ancient Roman citizens regarded as being of urban, rather than rural, origin; a tribe (tribe n. 2a) from the city of Rome; cf. earlier urbane tribe n. at urbane adj. 1b.
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1700 J. Harrington's Oceana 35 Whence the Urban Tribes of Rome, consisting of the Turba forensis, and Libertins that had receiv'd their Freedom by manumission, were of no reputation in comparison of the Rustics.
1842 J. Donovan Rome Anc. & Mod. I. iii. 36 The city also was divided into four regions, which took the names of the four Urban tribes.
1890 Classical Rev. 4 222/2 The inference formerly drawn that Ostia and Puteoli belonged to the urban tribe Palatina.
1999 A. Lintott Constit. Rom. Republic vii. 118 This may not mean that they had no tribe at all, but that they were relegated to one of the urban tribes, particularly one of the pair held inferior, the Esquilina and Suburana.
urban village n. a small self-contained district or community within a town or city.In quot. 1867: a village forming part of a cluster of settlements of urban character.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > town as opposed to country > town or city > part of town or city > [noun]
quarter1526
ferling1610
quartier1828
urban village1867
quartiere1888
section1907
poblacion1926
neighbourhood1929
precinct1942
village1949
1867 J. Lord Old Rom. World iii.100 A fortified fort arose on the Palatine hill, fitted to be..a fortress to protect the urban villages.
1904 Archit. Rec. Sept. 179 (title) An English urban village.
1962 H. J. Gans Urban Villagers i. 4 The West End was an urban village, located next to Boston's original and once largest skid row area, Scollay Square.
2005 Daily Tel. 8 June 9/1 They also liked to live near their friends in so-called urban villages—city centre locations..with the green open space and community life traditionally associated with the countryside.
urban villager n. an inhabitant of an urban village.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant according to environment > town- or city-dweller > [noun] > inhabitant of part of town
West Ender1823
west end1882
uptowner1924
urban villager1961
1961 J. Dyckman in L. Rodwin Future Metropolis viii. 153 The leisure of the old urban villager was meaningful chiefly as a release from work as a physical break.
2007 Key: N.Y. Times Real Estate Mag. Fall 96/2 (advt.) Today's urban villager craves style, and the upshot is that, suddenly, buyers are purchasing residential buildings based on design.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.n.1619