Human geography definitions

Advanced countries (ACs)

Countries that share a number of important economic characteristics, including:

• well-developed financial markets

• high degrees of financial intermediation

• diversified economic structures with rapidly growing service sectors

Asylum seeker

A person who seeks entry to another country by claiming to be a refugee

Biopiracy

The exploitation of medicinal drugs from wild environments by pharmaceutical companies with little or no benefit to indigenous people

Comprehensive redevelopment

The planning and rebuilding of a substantial part of an urban area, involving the demolition of nearly all of the previous buildings and infrastructure

Containerisation

The shipping of goods (by road, rail and sea) in standard metal-sized boxes. It allows efficient, mechanised handling of large volumes of goods and lowers transport costs

Conurbation

Large urban area in population and areal terms, made up of the merging together of previously separate towns and cities

Core region

An area where economic activity is concentrated and living standards are relatively high

De-industrialisation

The absolute or relative decline in the importance of manufacturing in the economy of a country or region

Deprivation

When a person’s well-being falls below a generally regarded minimum. A range of factors are usually included to measure this such as employment, housing, health and education

Development gap

Difference in prosperity and well-being between rich and poor countries

Diaspora

The spread of an ethnic or national group from their homeland, e.g. Jews from Israel or Kurds from Kurdistan

Disposable income

The proportion of someone’s income that is left after essentials have been paid

Economic migrant

A person who moves from another country, region or place, involving a permanent or semi-permanent change of residence, to improve their standard of living or job opportunities

Economic restructuring

The change in proportions of people working in various economic sectors e.g. the change in ACs from secondary to tertiary employment

Edge city

Substantial urban development on the fringe of an existing conurbation. They are often formally planned and self-sufficient

Emerging and developing countries

Countries that do not share all the economic development characteristics required to be advanced, and also are not eligible for the poverty reduction and growth trust, identified by the IMF

Emigration

Out-migration of people from a country, which involves permanent change of residence

Entitlements

The purchasing and bargaining power that gives people access to food and other basic needs

Flow map

A numerical map that represents the movement of people, goods or information by lines where widths are proportional to flows

Food security

When there is access to sufficient food for individuals to lead a healthy life

Forced labour

When people are coerced to work through use of violence or intimidation, or by more subtle means such as retention of identity papers

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)

Inward investment by a foreign company (usually a large TNC) in a country

Friedmann’s core-periphery model

Four-stage model of spatial economic development where development is initially concentrated in the economic core and eventually diffuses to the periphery

Genetically modified crops

Genetic engineering applied to food crops to increase production, quality, and resistance to disease or drought

Gentrification

Process by which former low-income inner city housing districts in ACs are invaded by higher income groups and refurbished

Global governance

Intervention by the global community, attempting to regulate issues, such as human rights, sovereignty and territorial integrity

Global shift

The locational movement of manufacturing production in particular from ACs to EDCs and LIDCs from the 1970s onwards

Global supply chains

Flows of materials, products, information, services and finance in a network of suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and customers around the world

Global value chains

Formed when the different stages of production are located across different countries. Companies attempt to optimise thier operations by locating various stages of production across different locations

Globalisation

The increasing interconnectedness and interdependence of the world, economically, socially, politically and culturally.

Green belt

Zone of predominantly rural land use on the periphery of an urban area where strict controls on development apply

Greenfield site

Land not previously built on and on which new developments are proposed or constructed

Household

One person living alone, or a group of people living at the same address

Housing tenure

The system under which housing is occupied e.g. owner-occupiers or tenants renting from a landlord

Human rights

Basic rights and freedoms inherent to all human beings, to which all people are entitled without discrimination

Human rights norms

Established customary behaviour based on moral principles and ways of living inculcated into the culture of a country or area over a long period of time

Humanitarian intervention

Action taken (often by a third-party country or multilateral agency like the UN) in a sovereign state to protect people at risk from war, famine, flood, genocide etc.

Icon

Something that has meaning as being representative of a place, culture or religion. In the urban landscape, a building can become an icon

Immigration

In-migration of people into a country, which involves a permanent change of residence

Import substitution

Promotion and development of industries within a country aimed at reducing manufacturing imports

Independence

A situation in which the people of a country exercise self-government and sovereignty over their state territory having gained political freedom from outside control

Indigenous

Something that originates naturally from a particular location

Infant mortality rate

Annual number of deaths of infants under one year old per 1000 live births

Informal sector

Those parts of the economy outside official recognition and record. People do not need formal qualifications to be employed in it, neither is there regulation of it

Inter-regional trade

The flow of international trade among major world regions such as Europe, North America and Asia

Interdependence

Interrelationships between ACs, EDCs and LIDCs through trade, FDI, foreign aid and migration

International border

Geographical boundary of a sovereign state, defined and recognised by international law, and identified on the political map of the world

International community

All countries whose identity and sovereignty are recognised under the auspices of the UN, plus other international organisations that choose to participate in global discussions and decision-making and which act collectively to resolve humanitarian issues

International law

Body of law that governs international relations between states or nations. This provides the framework for the obligations of states to be maintained

International migrant stock

The number of people born in a country other than that in which they live. This also includes refugees

International treaties

International agreements concluded between states, in written form and governed by international law

Intervening obstacles

Physical, economic, social and political factors which may disrupt or terminate a migration at any point between origin and destination

Intervention

Actions of a state, group of states, or international organisations in a foreign territory to end gross violations of human rights. This includes military force, economic sanctions and the assistance of NGOs.

Intra-regional trade

The flow of international trade within one or other of the major world regions such as Europe or Asia

Key settlement

Rural settlement where services (e.g. schools, hospitals, shops) are concentrated to meet thresholds that will ensure their economic viability

Knowledge economy

Wealth creating activities that gather, store and analyse knowledge, e.g. high-tech manufacturing, finance, telecommunications, business services

Land grabbing

A process whereby rich countries acquire land in poorer countries

Life cycle

The progress of a person through various stages based on age and family unit, from infancy to old age

Long term migrant

A person who moves to a country other than their usual residence for a period of at least a year

Low-income developing countries

Countries that are eligible for financial support from the IMF through the poverty reduction and growth trust

Malnutrition

Shortages of proteins and essential vitamins caused by an unbalanced diet

Maternal mortality rate

Annual number of deaths of women while pregant, or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management. Measured per 100,000 live births

Migrant remittances

Money transferred from one country to another, sent home by migrants to their family, friends and community

Militarisation

A significant increase in military activity in a place

Nation building

Process by which a state government promotes nationality, for example through its education system or the media

Nation-state

A nation which has its own independent state; the boundaries of the state coincide with the area inhabited by the nation

Nation

Large group of people with strong bonds of identity, united by shared descent, history, traditions, culture and language

Natural capital

Natural resources with a value to humans

Norms

Moral principles, customs and ways of living that are universally accepted as standard behaviour

Nutrition spectrum

A scale of diet and nutrition that marks critical thresholds in human health, e.g. starvation and obesity

Places

Places are multi-faceted, shaped by shifting flows and connections which change over time

Player/stakeholder

Individual or organisation with an interest and/or influence in actions, decisions or operations

Pollution

The process by which human activity contaminates the environment, with adverse effects on the quality of air, water, etc and the health of people and other organisms

Post-industrial

A society and economy no longer dominated by the secondary sector but one where the great majority of people are involved in tertiary activities

Primary sector

Economic activites that produce food, fuel, and raw materials

Pull factors

Positive attributes of a place or destination which attract migrants

Push factors

Negative attributes of a migrant’s place of origin which push a migrant to leave

Quality of life

The extent to which people’s needs and desires are met

Quaternary sector

Economic activities that provide services to other economic activities

Rebranding

Developments aimed at changing negative perceptions of a place, making it more attractive to investment

Refugee

A person who has moved outside the country of his/her nationality or usual domicile because of genuine fear of persecution or death

Regeneration

The investment of capital and ideas into an area to revitalise and renew its socio-economic and environmental status

Reimaging

Developments associated with rebranding and usually involving cultural, artistic or sporting elements

Secondary sector

Economic activities involving manufacturing industries e.g. processing raw materials, making semi-finished and finished goods

Self-determination

Right of a group with a distinctive territorial identity to freely determine its political status and freely pursue its economic, social and cultural development

Separatism

Claims for, or practice of, separation of a group of people from a larger state on the basis of their ethnicity or unified national culture, traditions, religion and language

Short-term migrant

A person who moves for at least three months but less than a year

Single market

An economic union of countries trading with each other without any internal borders or tariffs

Social inequality

The unequal distribution of factors such as income, education or health across a population

Sovereignty

The absolute authority that independent states exercise in the government of the land and peoples in their territory

Spatial inequality

The unequal distribution of factors such as income, education or health across geographic space at any scale

Standard of living

The ability to access goods and services

State

Area of land, of an independent country, with well-defined boundaries, within which there is a politically organised body of people under a single government

State apparatus

Set of state institutions and organisations through which state power is exercised; these include legal mechanisms, administrative organisations, police and armed forces

Superpower

States with a dominant position in the international system capable of exerting their power (economic, cultural, political) globally

Terms of trade

Value of a country’s exports relative to that of its imports.

This is measured as (average price of exports) / (average price of imports) x100

If export prices rise relative to import prices, there is improvement in a country’s terms of trade

Territory

Extent of land under the jurisdiction of a sovereign state

Tertiary sector

Economic activities providing services, e.g. education and health, legal, financial

Threshold

The minimum number of people or spending required to support a good or service

Time-space compression

A set of processes leading to a ‘shrinking world’ causd by reductions in the relative distance between places e.g. travel time