Accessory Dwelling Unit: Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU): A second dwelling unit contained within a single-family dwelling or within a detached building located on the same lot as a single-family dwelling. This definition includes accessory buildings constructed in connection with a private garage or a private garage converted into a dwelling unit.Activity Center: Activity Center: An intensively developed area that is the visual and/or functional center of a neighborhood(s) or a district. Activity centers are typically comprised of a mix of land uses developed at a higher intensity than the surrounding area including residential, commercial, employment, civic, institutional, and parks and open space uses. Affordable Housing Fund: Affordable Housing Fund (AHF): A City of Madison program to provide loans and grants to for-profit and non-profit housing developers for the construction of new affordable rental housing.Agrihood: Agrihood: A neighborhood with a working farm integrated into its urban or suburban surroundings that provides or sells its crops and other agricultural products to neighborhood residents and the surrounding community through farm stands, CSA shares, local retailers, and farmers’ markets.Anaerobic Digester: Anaerobic Digester: The built system where anaerobic digestion takes place. Anaerobic digestion is the natural process in which microorganisms break down natural materials. (Source: U.S. EPA)
Artificial Intelligence ,Artificial Intelligence (AI): A branch of computer science dealing with the simulation of intelligent behavior in computers or the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior. (Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary)Autonomous Vehicles: Autonomous Vehicles: Vehicles that can drive themselves from a starting point to a predetermined destination in “autopilot” mode using various in-vehicle technologies and sensors, including adaptive cruise control, active steering (steer by wire), anti-lock braking systems (brake by wire), GPS navigation technology, lasers and radar. (Source: Gartner)Beach Exclosure: Beach Exclosure: A treatment system that pumps water from inside a closed off area of a beach through filtration, UV disinfection, then releases treated water back into the swimming area. (Source: INFOS Yahara Lakes)Biodiversity: Biodiversity: The variety of life in a particular habitat, including plants, trees, and animals. (Source: Oxford Dictionaries)Biogas: Biogas: A gaseous fuel, primarily methane, produced by the breakdown of organic matter in the absence of oxygen. (Sources: Dictionary.com, Wikipedia)Bus Rapid Transit: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT): A high-capacity bus system with features that are similar to a light rail system, such as frequent service, dedicated bus lanes, off-board fare collection, fewer stops, and traffic signal priority. (Source: Institute for Transportation and Development Policy)Capital Area Regional Planning Commission: Capital Area Regional Planning Commission (CARPC): One of nine commissions in Wisconsin established to coordinate planning and development among area municipalities. CARPC develops and promotes regional plans, provides objective information and professional planning services, and focuses local attention on issues of regional importance.
CARPC carries out land use planning and areawide water quality management planning for the greater Madison region. State statutes charge it with the duty of preparing and adopting a master plan for the physical development of the region. The Department of Natural Resources contracts with the Commission to maintain a continuing areawide water quality management planning process to manage, protect, and enhance the water resources of the region. (Source: CARPC)Capital Costs: Capital Costs: The capital costs are expenses associated with purchasing assets such as land, buildings, and equipment. (Source: Investopedia)Capital Budgeting: Capital Budgeting: A plan for what assets (such as land, buildings, construction, and equipment) will be purchased over a year or more time. City Expansion Areas: City Expansion Areas: Portions of the City that are expected to have future development, including housing, businesses, and more. City Fees: City Fees: Costs paid by developers or users of City services, such as building permits, development review fees, and parkland dedication fees. City Home Rehabilitation Loans: City Home Rehabilitation Loans: Financial incentives to invest in housing units in need of rehabilitation, resulting in an improved housing stock.Competitive Advantage: Competitive Advantage: When a city, business, or other entity is able to produce a good or service at a lower price or in a more desirable fashion for customers or customers when compared to competing municipalities or region. (Source: Investopedia)Complete Street: Complete Street: Streets that are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities. (Source: Smart Growth America)Complete Neighborhood: Complete Neighborhood: A neighborhood where a mix of residential and non-residential buildings are in close proximity to each other with multiple transportation options. This enables community members to reach destinations needed for daily living (like grocery stores, schools, banks, and more) quickly, conveniently, and safely. Connected Vehicle: Connected Vehicle: A car or other vehicle that communicates with the internet, infrastructure, and/or other vehicles. This can allow a car to estimate the cost of a trip, be alerted to traffic, and perform many other activities. (Source: Center for Advanced Automotive Technology)Context-Sensitive Design: Context-Sensitive Design: Development that is well-integrated into the character of the surrounding neighborhood, and including considerations such as height and bulk, setback from the street, width along the street frontage, and site infrastructure, among others. Development District: Development District: Key areas identified to target employment and housing growth within mixed-use, transit-oriented development. These are areas where City economic development tools can be aligned, removing barriers to quality development. Double Dollars Program: Double Dollars Program: A program for FoodShare (Wisconsin’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) users in Dane County, offering a dollar-for-dollar match for purchases at participating farmers’ markets, farm stands, and food retail locations. The program is available year-round at sites throughout the Madison area.Easement: Easement: A legal tool that grants one party the right to use property that another party owns and possesses. (Source: Investopedia, Merriam-Webster Dictionary)E-Commerce: E-Commerce: Activities that relate to the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet. (Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary)Edge Development: Edge Development: Also known as greenfield development: development of vacant, agricultural, or forested land on the periphery of the city that has not been previously developed. Equitable Hiring Initiative: Equitable Hiring Initiative: A checklist and guide to ensure each hiring decision for the City of Madison is as equitable as possible.Equity Review: Equity Review: A series of questions to ask to ensure that the impacts on all community members, especially communities of color and low-income populations, are being considered when making decisions.Extraterritorial Plat Approval Jurisdiction: Extraterritorial Plat Approval Jurisdiction: A statutory tool to review land divisions outside city and village boundaries in anticipation of urban development.Floor Area Ratio: Floor Area Ratio (FAR): The measurement of a building’s floor area in relation to the size of the building’s lot or parcel. FAR is an effective way to calculate the bulk or mass of building volume on a development site, and is often used in conjunction with other development standards such as building heights, lot coverage, and lot area to encourage a community’s desired arrangement and form of development. (Source: Metropolitan Council (MN))Focus on Energy Program: Focus on Energy Program: Wisconsin’s energy efficiency and renewable resource program that partners 108 Wisconsin electric and natural gas utilities with homeowners, business owners, local governments, and others to install energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. (Source: Focus on Energy)Geothermal: Geothermal: Heat derived below the earth’s surface that is harnessed to generate clean, renewable energy. (Source: U.S. Department of Energy)Graywater: Graywater: Wastewater gathered from sinks, bathtubs, and washing machines (but not wastewater from toilets). (Source: APA, A Planners Dictionary)Greenfield Development: Greenfield Development: Also known as edge development: development of vacant, agricultural, or forested land on the periphery of the city that has not been previously developed. Greenhouse Gas: Greenhouse Gas: Gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. Common greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases. Livestock, heavy industry, and burning of fossil fuels are top producers of greenhouse gases. (Source: U.S. EPA)Green Infrastructure: Green Infrastructure: A method of treating, infiltrating, and/or reducing stormwater through the use of permeable pavement, bioswales, raingardens, green roofs, and other methods that retain or infiltrate water on-site, rather than send it into the storm sewer and on to streams and lakes.Green Roofs: Green Roofs: A roof covered with soil (or other growing media) and vegetation that retains, then evaporates water. (Source: U.S. EPA)Greenway: Greenway: Linear corridors of land and water and the natural, cultural, and recreational resources they link together. (Source: Massachusetts Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs)Gross Domestic Product: Gross Domestic Product: A major indicator used to gauge the health of a region or country’s economy. It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period, often referred to as the size of the economy. (Source: Investopedia)Healthy Retail Access Program: Healthy Retail Access Program: A program created by Madison’s Food Policy Council that provides funds for healthy retail projects that aim to improve access to affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food and retail within underserved areas.Historic District: Historic District: A significant concentration, linkage, or continuity of sites, buildings, structures, or objects united historically or aesthetically by plan or physical development. A local, state, or the federal government can officially recognize districts. (Source: U.S. National Park Service)Historic Landmark: LocalHistoric Preservation Plan: Historic Preservation Plan: A plan to provide a framework for future preservation that goes beyond the City’s current, primarily regulatory, role. It will recommend strategies to more effectively integrate historic preservation into public policy, explore zoning and land use tools, capitalize on economic development and financial incentives, and encourage heritage tourism.Human-Scaled Design: Human-Scaled Design: The perceived size of a building relative to a human being. A building is considered to have good human scale if there is an expression of human activity or use that indicates the building’s size. For example, traditionally sized doors, windows, and balconies are elements that respond to the size of the human body, so these elements in a building indicate the building’s overall size. (Source: Burien, WA)Infill Development: Infill Development: Development of vacant or underused lots that are surrounded by developed areas.Invasive Species: Invasive Species: A living organism that is not native to an ecosystem, spreads/reproduces rapidly, and causes harm to the environment, the economy, or human health.Jobs TIF Program: Jobs TIF Program: The use of tax increment financing to provide assistance to employers for the purpose of creating or retaining jobs within the City.Leapfrog Development: Leapfrog Development: New development separated from existing development by substantial vacant or agricultural land.LEED: LEED: An acronym for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.” LEED is a certification system administered by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) for buildings that integrate environmentally friendly components and construction techniques to improve things like energy efficiency and air quality. Buildings receive points based on the number and quality of environmentally friendly features. There are four levels of LEED, based on the number of points earned: certified, silver, gold, and platinum. (Source: USGBC)Legacy Phosphorus: Legacy Phosphorus: Accumulation of phosphorus in soil or sediment, generally due to the over-application of fertilizers on agricultural fields.Living Wage: Living Wage: A wage at which a person who works one full-time job can afford the basics for modern living, including food, shelter, utilities, transportation, and health care.Living Wall: Living Wall: Also known as green walls: self-sufficient vertical gardens that are attached to the exterior or interior of a building. (Source: Green over Grey - Living Walls and Design Inc.)MadiSUN: MadiSUN: A City of Madison initiative, administered by local nonprofit RENEW Wisconsin, to expand solar energy installations on homes and commercial properties. MadiSUN offers group buys of rooftop solar for homeowners, a solar loan program for residents, and rebates for businesses. (Source: MadiSUN)Master Plan: Master Plan for City Facilities: A document stating goals and actions to maintain and update City buildings and infrastructure.Missing Middle Housing: Missing Middle Housing: A range of smaller multi-unit or clustered housing types compatible in scale with single-family homes. (Source: Opticos Design, Inc.)Natural Soil Amendments: Natural Soil Amendments: Substances used to improve the physical nature of soil by adding nutrients to the soil and helping retain moisture. (Source: Lowes)Neighborhood Development Plan: Neighborhood Development Plan (NDP): A plan prepared for largely undeveloped land on the city’s edge. NDPs are adopted as supplements of the Comprehensive Plan and include recommendations for land use, transportation, parks and open space, and utilities.Neighborhood Plan: Neighborhood Plan: A plan prepared for an already-developed area of the city that includes recommendations for land use, urban design, transportation, parks, placemaking, and other improvements/investments/changes to a given area. Neighborhood plans can encompass more than one neighborhood, and are generally adopted as supplements to the Comprehensive Plan.Neighborhood Police Officers: Neighborhood Police Officers: Police Officers that are assigned to specific areas of the City. The neighborhoods are geographically small, and typically have a high need for police services.Neighborhood Resource Team: Neighborhood Resource Teams (NRTs): A citywide effort to coordinate and improve the delivery of City services to Madison’s neighborhoods. NRTs provide a regular forum for City employees to meet, discuss, and support each other’s efforts in delivering excellent City services. NRT membership can include alderpersons, City staff and non-City staff participants.Neighborhood-Scaled Schools: Neighborhood-Scaled Schools: Schools that are designed and built to become a center for interaction and are embedded within a neighborhood, not isolated on large sites surrounded by parking and large swaths of underutilized or unprogrammed greenspace.Operating Costs: Operating Costs: Expenses associated with the maintenance and administration of a business or government on a day-to-day basis, such as salaries.(Source: Investopedia)Percent for the Arts: Percent for the Arts: A requirement that 1% of public building project costs, for projects with an adopted budget of $5 million or more, be used for public art.Permanent Supportive Housing: Permanent Supportive Housing: Housing that has social services and counseling programs to assist people with housing, mental health, drug, or other challenges, in the transition to self-sufficiency through gaining a stable income and other skills. (Source: APA, A Planners Dictionary)Phytoremediation: Phytoremediation: The treatment of pollutants or waste (as in contaminated soil or groundwater) by the use of green plants that remove, degrade, or stabilize the undesirable substances (such as toxic metals). (Source: Merriam-Webster Dictionary)Placemaking: Placemaking: Creation of an environment that fosters community, stimulates interaction, encourages entrepreneurship, generates innovation, and nurtures humanity. (Source: Project for Public Spaces)Pollinators: Pollinators: Animals that assist plants in their reproduction. Species include ants, bats, bees, beetles, birds, butterflies, flies, moths, wasps, and others. (Source: USDA Forest Service)Property Assessed Clean Energy: Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE): Financing for energy improvements that addresses some of the economic barriers that have prevented the widespread adoption of home energy upgrades, including access to capital and efficient financing mechanisms for upgrades to existing homes. (Source: U.S. Department of Energy)Public Housing: Public Housing: Decent and safe rental housing for low-income families, the elderly, and persons with disabilities that is owned by a government or government agency. Public housing come in all sizes and types, from scattered single-family houses to high-rise apartments. (Source: HUD)Rain Gardens: Rain Gardens: Gardens are specially designed to collect and infiltrate stormwater from impervious areas such as roofs, driveways, and heavily compacted lawns.Recyclopedia: Recyclopedia: An annual City guide that provides information on trash collection, recycling “dos and don’ts,” large item collection, and more. Redevelopment: Redevelopment: Construction of a new building where a building already exists.Regional Agency: Regional Agency: An organization whose interest extends beyond municipal boundaries.Regional Transit Authority: Regional Transit Authority (RTA): An entity created for providing organized, effective public transportation across municipal boundaries.Report a Problem: Report a Problem: A City program and website where community members can provide information on non-emergency issues typically related to public safety, including pothole concerns, snow removal, animal control, and stolen bicycles.Resident Panels: Resident Panels: A cornerstone of the Imagine Madison public engagement process. Formed through a partnership between the City of Madison and community-based organizations that have connections to Madison’s communities of color, lower-income residents, and other residents whose voices are often missing from planning processes, the Resident Panels meant that the voices heard in the Imagine Madison process to be more representative of the city’s population.Road Diet: Road Diet: Reducing the number of lanes dedicated for car travel on an underutilized road in favor of other features, such as bicycle lanes, turn lanes, or wider terraces.SEED Program: SEED Program: A City of Madison program administered by the Madison Food Policy Council that provides grants to improve the local food system and make food more accessible to Madison residents.Sense of Place: Sense of Place: The characteristics of a location that make it readily recognizable as being unique and different from its surroundings and that provides a feeling of belonging to or being identified with that particular place. (Source: Scottsdale, AZ) Shared Solar: Shared Solar: A business model that allows multiple participants to benefit directly from the energy produced by a solar array. Participants typically own or lease a system or portion of a system or purchase kilowatt-hour blocks of renewable energy generation. (Source: U.S. Department of Energy)Social Practice Artists: Social Practice Artists: Artists who focus on social engagement, inviting collaboration with individuals, communities, and institutions in a dialog about community issues.Step Backs: Step Backs: A building design where there are fewer stories closer to the lot line (for example, near sidewalks and adjacent properties) than the rest of the building. Stormwater: Stormwater: Untreated runoff from rainfall and snowmelt. It flows across impervious surfaces, through fields and over construction sites, crossing municipal boundaries and can carry contaminants to lakes and streams. (Source: Dane County Office of Lakes & Watersheds)Sub-Area Plan: Sub-Area Plan: A plan that covers an area smaller than the city as a whole. An umbrella term that encompasses “Neighborhood Development Plans,” “Neighborhood Plans,” and other types of plans, such as corridor plans (for major streets and the properties surrounding them) and special area plans (generally small areas of a few blocks). Subdivision Ordinance: Subdivision Ordinance: An ordinance adopted by the City Council that sets standards for the division of land/property. Sustainable Agriculture: Sustainable Agriculture: An integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term: satisfy human food and fiber needs; enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends; make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls; sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole. (Source: USDA)Tax Increment Financing: Tax Increment Financing (TIF): A governmental finance tool to provide funds to construct public infrastructure, promote development opportunities, and expand the tax base.Terrace: Terrace: The space between the sidewalk and the curb along a street.Traditional Neighborhood Development: Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND): Development of a complete neighborhood using traditional town planning principles, such as provision of a range of housing types, a network of connected streets, a variety of public spaces, and a variety of destinations (such as schools, shops, offices, and places of worship) within walking distance.Transit-Oriented Development: Transit-Oriented Development (TOD): Compact, walkable, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use development that is centered around a high-quality transit line or system to encourage transit use and reduce car traffic generated by development. Transportation Demand Management: Transportation Demand Management (TDM): A program of information, encouragement, and incentives provided by companies and local or regional governments to help people know about and use transportation options beyond single-occupancy vehicles. It is used to optimize mobility by publicizing non-car options and to counterbalance the built-in government subsidization of parking and roads. (Source: Mobility Lab)Transportation Management Association: Transportation Management Association (TMA): A nonprofit, member-controlled organization that provides transportation services in a particular area, such as a commercial district, mall, medical center or industrial park. TMAs are generally public-private partnerships, consisting primarily of area businesses with local government support. (Source: TDM Encyclopedia)Tree Canopy: Tree Canopy: The layer of leaves, branches, and stems of trees that obscure the ground when viewed from above. (Source: Center for Watershed Protection)Tier 1 Sidewalks: Tier 1 Sidewalks: Sidewalks that should be added along streets that are close to schools, transit routes, or other features that attract pedestrians.Tuj Lub: Tuj Lub: A top spinning game that is popular in the Hmong community and is played on a specialized court.Underrepresented Groups: Underrepresented Groups: Groups of people with a common race, ethnicity, immigration status, age, income level, gender identity, or sexual orientation who have not typically participated in City decision-making processes commensurate with the proportion of the population they comprise. These groups have often experienced discrimination or marginalization based on their identity.Urban Agriculture: Urban Agriculture: The production of food for personal consumption, market sale, donation, or educational purposes within cities and suburbs.Urban Biodiversity: Urban Biodiversity: The variety and variability among living organisms found in a city and the ecological systems in which they occur. (Source: “Urban Biodiversity and Climate Change” by Jose Antonio Puppim de Oliveira, Christopher N. H. Doll, Raquel Moreno-Peñaranda, and Osman Balaban)Water Quality: Water Quality: The condition of water, including its chemical, physical, and biological characteristics with respect to its expected use (i.e., drinking, swimming, fishing, etc.). (Source: Florida Brooks National Marine Sanctuary, Key West, Florida.)Watershed: Watershed: An area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel. (Source: USGS)Wisconsin Shares: Wisconsin Shares: A program that supports low-income working families by subsidizing a portion of the cost of quality child care while the parents or caregivers are working or participating in another approved activity. Wisconsin Shares is implemented locally by counties and tribes. (Source: Wisconsin Department of Children and Families)YoungStar Rating: YoungStar Rating: Wisconsin’s child care quality rating and improvement system. YoungStar Rating objectively measures child care quality, giving parents an easy way to compare child care options. YoungStar also supports child care providers with tools and training. (Source: Wisconsin Department of Children and Families)Zones of Contribution: Zones of Contribution (for Municipal Wells): The entire land surface area over which water can infiltrate and move toward a well. (Source: WI DNR)Zoning Code: Zoning Code: An ordinance that regulates land use, lot size, building placement, building height, and other aspects of the development of land.
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