Residential area in the context of "Microdistrict"

A slum is a derogatory term for a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inhabited by impoverished people.

Although slums are usually located in urban areas, they can be located in suburban areas where housing quality is low and living conditions are poor. Slum residences vary from shanty houses to professionally built dwellings which, because of poor-quality construction or lack of basic maintenance, have deteriorated. While slums differ in size and other characteristics, most lack reliable sanitation services, supply of clean water, reliable electricity, law enforcement, and other basic services. The United Nations defines slums as ".... informal settlements lacking one or more of the following conditions: access to improved water, access to improved sanitation, sufficient living area, housing durability, and security of tenure."

The term inner city (also called the hood) has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists sometimes turn the euphemism into a formal designation by applying the term inner city to such residential areas, rather than to more geographically central commercial districts, often referred to by terms such as downtown, city centre, or central business district.

Light industry are industries that usually are less capital-intensive than heavy industries and are more consumer-oriented than business-oriented, as they typically produce smaller consumer goods. Most light industry products are produced for end users rather than as intermediates for use by other industries. Light industry facilities typically have a smaller environmental impact than those associated with heavy industry. For that reason, zoning laws are more likely to permit light industry near residential areas.

One definition states that light industry is a "manufacturing activity that uses moderate amounts of partially processed materials to produce items of relatively high value per unit weight".

A single-family detached home – also called a single-detached dwelling, single-family residence (SFR), separate house, or other similar terms – is a free-standing residential building. It is defined in opposition to a multi-family residential dwelling.

In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use and building "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a single use (e.g. residential, industrial), they may combine several compatible activities by use, or in the case of form-based zoning, the differing regulations may govern the density, size and shape of allowed buildings whatever their use. The planning rules for each zone determine whether planning permission for a given development may be granted. Zoning may specify a variety of outright and conditional uses of land. It may indicate the size and dimensions of lots that land may be subdivided into, or the form and scale of buildings. These guidelines are set in order to guide urban growth and development.

Zoning is the most common regulatory urban planning method used by local governments in developed countries. Exceptions include the United Kingdom and the city of Houston, Texas.

On a residential area, a front yard (United States, Canada, Australia) or front garden (United Kingdom, Europe) is the portion of land between the street and the front of the house. If it is covered in grass, it may be referred to as a front lawn. The area behind the house, usually more private, is the back yard or back garden. Yard and garden share an etymology and have overlapping meanings.

In North America, front yards, which normally include considerable driveway and parking space, tend to be mostly lawn even when large, but in Europe they are often treated as a flower garden and may be heavily planted. In North American suburbia, there may be no physical barriers marking the front and sides of the plot, which would be very unusual in Europe, where there are generally walls, fences or hedges on three sides of the garden.

Residential segregation is a concept in urban sociology which refers to the voluntary or forced spatial separation of different socio-cultural, ethnic, or racial groups within residential areas. It is often associated with immigration, wealth inequality, or prejudice. The term is most often used in relation to residential segregation in the United States.

A dead end, also known as a cul-de-sac (/ˈkʌldəsæk, ˈkʊl-/; French: [kydsak], lit. 'bag bottom'), a no outlet road, a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet.

Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some dead ends prohibit all-through traffic, while others allow cyclists, pedestrians, or other non-automotive traffic to pass through connecting easements or paths. The latter case is an example of filtered permeability.