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Physiological density

Number of people per unit of arable (farmable) land; high physiological density indicates pressure on food supply

Brownfields

Abandoned or contaminated industrial/commercial sites that may be redeveloped

Periphery

Less developed countries/regions that depend on core countries for investment and jobs

Irredentism

A country’s attempt to reclaim territory where people of its own ethnicity live

Sequent occupance

Cultural landscape shaped by multiple groups over time

Perceptual (vernacular) region

Region defined by people’s feelings

Open-border policies

Laws allowing people to move freely between countries with little restriction

Preventive check

Actions taken to reduce birth rates (like contraception or delayed marriage)

Arithmetic density

Total population divided by total land area

Carrying capacity

Maximum population an area can sustain

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

Model showing population change over time

Total fertility rate (TFR)

Average number of children per woman

Infant mortality rate (IMR)

Deaths of infants under age 1 per 1

Life expectancy

Average number of years a person is expected to live

Natural increase rate (NIR)

Birth rate minus death rate (excluding migration)

Push factors

Reasons people leave a place

Pull factors

Reasons people are attracted to a place

Voluntary migration

Migration by choice

Chain migration

Migration of people to a place where relatives or friends already live

Intervening obstacle

Factor that prevents migration (cost

Scale

Level of analysis (local

Spatial distribution

Arrangement of things on Earth’s surface

Diffusion

Spread of ideas

Relocation diffusion

Spread through movement of people

Expansion diffusion

Spread outward while remaining strong at hearth

Hierarchical diffusion

Spread through power nodes (celebrities

Contagious diffusion

Rapid person-to-person spread

Stimulus diffusion

Idea adapts while spreading

Distance decay

Interaction decreases with distance

GIS (Geographic Information Systems)

Computer system for mapping and analyzing spatial data

Culture

Shared beliefs

Cultural relativism

Judging a culture by its own standards

Ethnocentrism

Judging another culture by your own standards

Cultural landscape

Visible imprint of human activity

Assimilation

Adopting dominant culture traits

Acculturation

Adopting some cultural traits while keeping original culture

Lingua franca

Common language used between speakers of different languages

Taboo

Behavior strongly discouraged by a culture

Nation

Group of people with shared identity

State

Political entity with defined borders

Nation-state

State whose territory corresponds to a single nation

Multinational state

State with multiple nations

Stateless nation

Nation without a state

Sovereignty

Ability of a state to govern itself

Devolution

Transfer of power from central government to regions

Gerrymandering

Redrawing boundaries for political advantage

Supranational organization

Group of countries working together (like United Nations)

Urbanization

Increase in proportion of people living in cities

Suburbanization

Movement from cities to suburbs

Counterurbanization

Movement from cities to rural areas

Gentrification

Renovation of neighborhoods leading to rising costs and displacement

Redlining

Discriminatory housing practice denying loans or services

Bid-rent theory

Land value decreases as distance from CBD increases

Central business district (CBD)

Commercial center of a city

Urban sprawl

Uncontrolled expansion of urban areas

Subsistence agriculture

Farming for personal consumption

Commercial agriculture

Farming for sale or profit

Monocropping

Growing one crop repeatedly