Definitions and Acronyms

Gentrification is a process of neighborhood change that typically involves the influx of more affluent residents into a historically lower-income or working-class urban area. This shift often brings new investment, rising property values, and improvements in infrastructure, services, and aesthetics. However, gentrification is also often associated with displacement of long-term residents and small businesses who can no longer afford the increasing rents or property taxes. It can lead to significant changes in the cultural, social, and economic fabric of a neighborhood.

GIS technology is used to develop maps that depict resources or features such as soil types, population densities, land uses, transportation corridors, waterways, etc. GIS computer programs link features commonly seen on maps (such as roads, town boundaries, water bodies) with related information not usually presented on maps, such as type of road surface, population, type of agriculture, type of vegetation, or water quality information. A GIS is a unique information system in which individual observations can be spatially referenced to each other.

Building design that yields environmental benefits, such as savings in energy, building materials, and water consumption, or reduced waste generation.

A linear open space; a corridor composed of natural vegetation. Greenways can be used to create connected networks of open space that include traditional parks and natural areas.