Urban/Rural/Metro Area
Write a short essay using the following questions as a guide for forming your response:
When talking about the urban landscape, we tend to refer to the structural urban landscape and the functional urban landscape, with “structural” referring to the built environment and “functional” referring to socio-economic relationships and processes.
The Census Bureau defines urbanized areas; the Office of Management and Budget defines metropolitan statistical areas. What is an urbanized area? What is a metropolitan statistical area? Which of these kinds of geographic areas represents the structural urban landscape and which represents the functional urban landscape?
What is the relationship between the Washington, DC-VA-MD urbanized area and the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV metropolitan statistical area? Which entity represents the core or center of the larger region? Which entity represents the region encompassing the core and the areas influenced by the core? Which of these types of entities includes rural territory? Explain how rural territory can be considered part of a functional urban landscape?
