AP Human: Regions Diffusion, and Network

Formal Region

An area defined by official boundaries or legal criteria, often including governmental jurisdictions such as states or countries, and recognized for specific characteristics or functions.

The people share a common characteristic

An agricultural or religious region

Functional Region

An area organized around a central focal point, node, or hub, where the practical connection or interaction fades as you move outward

Exist because of a node

Business market area

A city

A commuter zone

Node

a central point that has many things connecting to it

Perceptual/ Vernacular Region

A perceived region

A stereotype of a place

An area people believe exist as part of their cultural identity or mental map

Subjective and lack precise universally agreed upon borders

Regional Borders

Usually transitional, overlapping or contested

Can be applied on multiple scales, from neighborhoods to subregions

Core

traits and patterns are most pure, intense, and concentrated in this area

Domain

defining traits and patterns are still dominant, but less concentrated in this area

there can be significant competing traits and patterns

Sphere

The traits and patterns still influence and are dominant in some ways, but it is much weaker and mixed with various other traits

Expansion Diffusion

where the phenomenon spreads while remaining strong at its source

Relocation Diffusion

where the phenomenon physically migrates, leaving the source behind

Relocation Diffusion

The physical movement of individuals who carry the phenomenon to an entirely new geographic area

Can be caused by migration, exploration, colonization

Christianity being introduced to the America’s by European settlers

Contagious Diffusion (Expansion Subtype)

Direct, person to person contact or local proximity

Driven by physical proximity, the closer an individual is to is to the hearth, the faster they adopt (distance decay/ friction of distance

Spread of the flu, a forest fire

Hierarchical Diffusion (Expansion Subtype)

spreads through an established system of structural ranks or patterns

Driven by the mass or size of a central node

Innovations leapfrog between major global cities before filtering down to smaller regional towns

Driven by issues such as wealth, prestige, and influence *Can operate in reverse

High-End fashion trends

Corporate chains

Pop culture

Stimulus Diffusion (Expansion Subtype)

The core concept or principle in one region or area triggers a response in another region or area, but the specific trait is modified due to local cultural/ environmental/ technical barriers

Driven by local adaptation of an otherwise incompatible foreign idea

Fast food chains spreading to other countries and changing its menu

Domestication of different animals

Diffusion Barriers

Anything that might inhabit or stop diffusion

May be physical, political, cultural, technological, or economic factors

Anything that can act as a barrier is considered friction

Diffusion Facilitator

Anything that enables or speeds up diffusion

May be physical, political, cultural, technological, or economic factors

Modern technology can often overcome friction, especially if caused by physical or technological barriers *Called space-time compression

Diffusion Curve

Incubation

Rapid growth

Maturity

Points where these occur are called inflection points

Networks

Specialized functional regions that differ as to how places, people, or systems connect across a place

Centralized Network

routes everything through one main node or hub

a capital city

an airport

easy to manage, maximum control, efficient communication and interaction

if the node or hub breaks, the entire network fails

Decentralized network

splits control among a few regional nodes of hubs, but all nodes are connected to each other

regional warehouses that supply various stores

a federal government structure

Distributed network

spreads equal links across all nodes with no single control system

farms in rural communities

solar microgrids that share power with neighbors

most robust and flexible

lack of control and order

Harth

a place where things orginate

Schismogenesis

people separate themselves from who they aren’t

Uniform Landscaping

pop culture creates very big trends

Costly Honest Signaling

depriving yourself of costing yourself something for approval

Sense of Place

A sense of attachment people have to a meaningful place to them

Usually destroyed be pop culture and gentrification

No Place

modern places where you can’t tell where you are by looking at them

the conformity of modern architecture