The change in the negative exponential density gradient has often been used as a measure of urban decentralization, with the gradient itself also being taken as a measure of the degree of centralization for comparing urban areas. Changes and levels of estimated negative exponential model...

To provide a more consistent definition than the traditional central city-suburb division, the urban core is defined as the extent of the built-up urban area in 1950 with the suburban periphery being the area added to the urban area thereafter. Population density in the urban core and suburban...

This paper addresses the issue of defining exurban areas around 59 large urban areas from 1950 to 2010. The ideal definition would include contiguous census tracts meeting a minimum density threshold and showing integration with the urban area based on commuting. Since data on the latter are not...

Some Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) fail to encompass the full extent of metropolitan areas. Combined Statistical Areas (CSAs), combinations of Core-Based Statistical Areas, are larger and may be more a more appropriate choice for certain analyses. Differences between MSAs and CSAs (and...

The density of urban development tends toward a negative exponential decline with distance from the center. The density gradient has been observed to be inversely related to the size of the urban area, while the central density is directly related. If the negative exponential density decline...

Urban growth refers to both increases in the population and number of housing units in an urban area and the spatial expansion of the urban area. The growth of urban areas is frequently attributed to the development of new housing units in rural areas on the urban fringe, resulting in those...

Fifty-nine of the largest urban areas in the United States were classified into age groups based on the temporal patterns of their development. Areas in the older age groups had higher mean densities in 1950 than the newer areas, but these differences had disappeared by 2010. The older areas...