Glossary - Sustainable Development in the USA - page 218

Frontier : Refers to frontier settlement of the American interior. According to the
historian Turner, the American “frontier” had ceased to exist by 1893 when all 48
contiguous states had been populated by settlers who were then henceforth engaged
in agricultural development.
Frost free belt : Coastal regions of California, southern Texas, and south Florida
generally sheltered from freezing winter.
G
Geospatial One Stop : An e-government initiative of the United States
Department of the Interior, Geospatial One Stop is a coordinated geographic
information portal produced by government agencies. Established in 2006, the site is
accessible at http://gos2.geodata.gov/wps/portal/gos.
Governance : Governance refers to a system of public accountability whereby
public bodies must give an account of their performance. In contemporary societies
characterized by the complexity and multiplicity of representative bodies, good
territorial governance requires the coordination of different legitimacies so that the
interests of one party do not interfere with the interests of other parties or with the
general interest. Such coordination takes place both vertically and horizontally.
Good vertical governance assumes effective articulation among the different levels
of government, which in the case of the United States includes city, district, county,
state, and federal agencies. When the actions of one level of legitimacy contradict
the actions of another, we may speak of dysfunctional vertical governance. Good
horizontal governance assumes effective relations among adjacent local authorities.
We may thus speak of “bad territorial governance” when the decisions of one
community conflict with the interests of residents in neighboring community. The
political fragmentation of American metropolitan areas is a major cause of bad
horizontal governance creating multiple sources of conflict including competition
between neighboring territories and the pernicious confusion of issues of governance
with issues of social equality and racial segregation.
Green card : Nickname for the residence permit issued to foreigners residing
permanently and legally in the United States. The Immigration Act of 1990
introduced the program of “diversity” creating each year a lottery of green cards to
promote immigration from countries with poor representation among immigrant
populations within the United States.