AP Human Geography Vocab Quiz #13

Borchert's Transportation Model

The model focuses on the development of cities in relation to the development of transportation and communication. According to the model a city's urban layout owes a great deal to what forms of transportation and communication were available when the city was settled.

City

An urban settlement that has been legally incorporated into an independent, self-governing unit.

City-state

A city that with its surrounding territory forms an independent state.

Central Place Theory

A theory that explains the distribution of services, based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services; larger settlements are fewer and farther apart than smaller settlements and provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel farther.

Central Business District

The downtown or nucleus of a city where retail stores, offices, and cultural activities are concentrated; building densities are usually quite high; and transportation systems converge.

Clustered Rural Settlements

A rural settlement in which the houses and farm buildings of each family are situated close to each other and fields surround the settlement.

Dispersed Rural Settlements

A rural settlement pattern characterized by isolated farms rather than clustered villages.

Ecumene

The portion of Earth's surface occupied by permanent human settlement.

Enclosure Movement

The process of consolidating small landholdings into a smaller number of larger farms in England during the eighteenth century.

Gravity Model

A model which holds that the potential use of a service at a particular location is directly related to the number of people in a location and inversely related to the distance people must travel to reach the service

Higher-order Services

A good or service usually expensive, that people only buy occasionally, these are usually located in larger towns and cities with a large market area accessible to a large number of people

Lower-order Services

A good or service provided by small centers, a good or service, usually inexpensive items that people buy often a regular, often daily basis.

Market Area/Hinterland

The area surrounding a central place, from which people are attracted to use the place's goods and services.

Primate City

The largest settlement in a country, if it has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

Range

The maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

Rank-size Rule

A pattern of settlements in a country, such that the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.

Site

The physical character of a place

Situation

The location of a place relative to another place

Settlement

A permanent collection of buildings and inhabitants.

Service

Any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it.

Threshold

The minimum number of people needed to support the service

Urban Hearth

An area like Mesopotamia, China, India, or the Nile Valley where large cities first existed.

Urbanization

An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements.

Urban Hierarchy

A ranking of settlements (hamlet, village, town, city, metropolis) according to their size and economic functions.

Air and Water Quality

The scale of unusable to usable water and air in an area of a city. The water quality depends on the source and how it travels to the area in which it is disposed for use by an individual.

Bid-rent Theory

Geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the Central Business District (CBD) increases.

Counterurbanization

The process of people moving away from urban areas to smaller settlements and rural areas.

Ecological Footprint

The impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the amount of land required to sustain their use of natural resources.

Farmland Protection Policies

Policies enacted by governments that protect farmland and prevent it from being sold into other use. Uses zoning to identify areas of agricultural land use

Infilling

Building on empty parcels of land within a checkerboard pattern of development

Infrastructure

The underlying framework of services and amenities needed to facilitate productive activity

Linear Settlement Patterns

Linear rural settlements comprise buildings clustered along a road, river, or dike to facilitate communications

Long-lot Survey

Distinct regional approach to land surveying found in the Canadian Maritimes, parts of Quebec, Louisiana, and Texas whereby land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals

Low Density Housing

There is a smaller density of dwellings per unit area of property. ex. acre You will find less congestion and more privacy

Medium Density Housing

This could be a subdivision or urban neighborhood

High Density Housing

The highest density of residents per unit area of land. ex. condos This is nosiest and most congested area

Metes and Bounds System

A system of land surveying east of the Appalachian Mountains. It is a system that relies on descriptions of land ownership and natural features such as streams or trees. Because of the imprecise nature of metes and bounds surveying, the U.S. Land Office Survey abandoned the technique in favor of the rectangular survey system.

Reurbanization

Movement of people back into an area that has been previously abandoned. It is usually a government's initiative to counter the problem of inner city.

Satellite City

When an established town near a very large city grows into a city independent of the larger one

Suburbanization

Movement of upper and middle-class people from urban core areas to the surrounding outskirts to escape pollution as well as deteriorating social conditions (perceived and actual).

Sustainable Design Initiatives

Sustainable design: communities use smart growth and green building to create neighborhoods that are economically thriving and environmentally responsible.

Township and Range System

A rectangular land division scheme designed by Thomas Jefferson to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands of the U.S. interior.