AP Human Geography: Key Vocabulary for Services and Urban Land Use

A collection of key vocabulary terms and their definitions relevant to services and urban land use in AP Human Geography.

Agglomeration

Clustering of businesses for mutual benefits of close proximity, sharing labor pools, technological and financial amenities, and ancillary industries.

Deglomeration

Process of industrial deconcentration in response to technological advances and/or increasing costs due to congestion and competition.

Urban hierarchy

Ranking of settlements according to their size and economic functions.

Hamlet

Lowest level of settlements, often not urban, offering few if any services.

Village

Clustered human settlement larger than a hamlet, generally offering several services.

Town

Clustered human settlement larger than a village, ranging from a few to thousands of inhabitants, generally offering many goods and services.

City

Clustered conglomeration of people and buildings serving as a center of politics, culture, and economics.

Metropolis

Usually contains several urbanized areas and suburbs that act together as a coherent economic whole.

Megacity

Cities occurring predominantly in LDCs with high population growth, attracting massive numbers of people and often plagued by chaotic growth and poverty.

Meta-Cities

Large clusters of Megacities with populations greater than 20 million, connected via transportation systems and infrastructure.

CBD (Central Business District)

Location of skyscrapers and companies, typically the center of urban models where many people commute.

Central city

Urban area that is not suburban; usually the older or original city surrounded by newer suburbs.

Inner city

Urban area around the CBD; typically poorer and more run down in long-developed states.

Ghetto

Inner cities that become dilapidated centers of poverty, often following white flight.

Node

Geographical centers of activity within large cities, having numerous nodes.

Suburb

Residential communities located outside city centers, usually homogeneous in terms of population and ethnicity.

Exurb

Ring of prosperous communities beyond suburbs, emerging due to urban decay and crime in U.S. cities.

Urban sprawl

Process of expansive suburban development over large areas, primarily driven by automobile transportation.

New Urbanism/Smart Growth

Urban design originating in the US during the 1980s to counteract sprawl, characterized by organized planning and walkability.

Central place theory

Theory explaining the number, size, and location of human settlements as central places providing services to surrounding areas.

Range of sale (breaking point)

Maximum distance people will travel for a good or service.

Threshold

Minimum number of customers needed to keep a business running.

Complementary region

Market area that serves as an exclusive hinterland with a monopoly on a certain good or service.