definitions Mar09

urban
- adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or designating a city or town
2. living in a city
3. characteristic of or accustomed to cities; citified: He is an urban type
- dictionary.com

an urban area is an area with an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it
urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets
- wikipedia

environment
- noun
1. the aggregate of surrounding things, conditions, or influences; surroundings; milieu
2. Ecology. the air, water, minerals, organisms, and all other external factors surrounding and affecting a given organism at any time.
3. the social and cultural forces that shape the life of a person or a population.
4. Computers. the hardware or software configuration, or the mode of operation, of a computer system
- dictionary.com
1: the complex of physical,chemical, and biotic factors (as climate, soil, and living things) that act upon an organism or an ecological community and ultimately determine its form and survival
2: theaggregate of social and cultural conditions that influence the life of an individual or community
- Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary
Wikipedia makes this distinction –
the natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, is a term that encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof
the phrase built environment refers to the man-made surroundings that provide the setting for human activity, ranging from the large-scale civic surroundings to the personal places