30 Required Models & Theories for AP Human Geography (copy)

FRQ super-rule

Always define, apply to the prompt’s place, and add a limitation/exception.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

Explains how birth and death rates shift as a country industrializes, changing natural increase.

Burgess Model

Urban land use model describing concentric zones: CBD, Zone of Transition, Working-Class, Middle-Class, and Commuter/Suburbs.

Hoyt Model

Describes urban land use as sectors where high-rent and industry form wedges along transportation routes.

Multiple Nuclei Model

Explains urban land use based on multiple centers (nuclei) that shape different land uses.

Latin American City Model (Griffin-Ford)

Characterizes urban structure with a CBD, commercial spine, elite sector, and zone of maturity.

Southeast Asian City Model (McGee)

Describes colonial CBDs, commercial spines, mixed uses, and ethnic quarters.

Bid-Rent Theory

Explains how different land users compete for locations, with retail typically bidding the highest near the center.

Rostow's Stages of Growth

A linear model suggesting that development progresses through specific stages driven by investment and industrialization.

Wallerstein's World Systems Theory

A relational model highlighting structural inequality between core and periphery countries.

Weber's Industrial Location Theory

Explains how firms choose locations to minimize transport and labor costs, with agglomeration benefits.

von Thünen Model

Describes agricultural land use in concentric rings based on the perishability and transportation of products.

Clark-Fisher Model

Describes the shift in employment sectors from primary to secondary to tertiary as development increases.

Gravity Model

Used to predict interaction between two places based on their populations and distance.

Population Pyramid

A graphical representation showing the age and sex distribution of a population.

Primate City

A city that is the largest in a country, significantly larger than the second largest, often dominating political and economic power.

Rank-Size Rule

A distribution of cities whereby the population of a city is inversely proportional to its rank.

Dependency Ratio

A measure showing the ratio of dependent individuals (children and elderly) to working-age individuals.

Limits of Models

Many models assume certain conditions such as isotropic plain, stable politics, and universal pathways.

Urbanization

The process by which more of a population comes to live in urban areas, often associated with industrialization.

Agglomeration Economies

Benefits that firms experience by locating near each other, including shared resources and a larger labor pool.

Zone of Transition

An area in urban settings where there is often a mix of residential and industrial uses, typically adjacent to the CBD.