AP Human Geography Unit 6 Quiz 1 Mrs. Yi

Borchert's Transportation Model

A model describing the growth of American cities through four epochs based on the dominant transportation technology of each era: the Sail-Wagon Epoch, the Iron Horse Epoch (steam/rail), the Steel Rail Epoch, and the Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch. Each epoch shaped where and how cities developed.

Dispersed Rural Settlements

A settlement pattern in which farms and homes are spread out across the landscape rather than clustered together, common in areas like the American Midwest where individual farmsteads sit on their own land.

Market Area / Hinterland

The surrounding region that a city or central place serves and from which it draws customers and resources. It represents the zone of influence or trade area for a given settlement.

Settlement

A place where people establish a permanent or semi-permanent community, ranging from small villages to large cities.

City

A large, densely populated urban center that serves as a hub for economic, cultural, political, and social activity for the surrounding region.

Ecumene

The permanently inhabited portion of the Earth's surface; the areas of the world that are permanently settled by humans.

Primate City

A city that is disproportionately large compared to all other cities in a country and dominates the nation's economic, political, and cultural life — typically more than twice the size of the second-largest city (e.g., Paris, Bangkok).

Service

An economic activity that provides intangible goods or assistance to consumers, such as retail, healthcare, education, or entertainment, rather than producing physical goods.

City-State

An independent, self-governing city that also controls the surrounding territory and functions as its own sovereign political unit (e.g., ancient Athens or modern Singapore).

Enclosure Movement

The process in 18th–19th century Britain by which common agricultural lands were fenced off and consolidated into private holdings, displacing many rural peasants and contributing to urban migration and the Industrial Revolution.

Range

In Central Place Theory, the maximum distance a consumer is willing to travel to obtain a good or service. Beyond this distance, demand for that good drops to zero.

Threshold

In Central Place Theory, the minimum market size (population) needed to support a particular good or service and make it economically viable for a business to operate.

Central Place Theory

Developed by Walter Christaller, this theory explains the size, spacing, and distribution of settlements. It argues that cities and towns exist to provide goods and services to surrounding areas, and that settlements are arranged in a hierarchical, hexagonal pattern based on range and threshold.

Gravity Model

A model predicting that the interaction between two places is directly proportional to the product of their populations and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them — larger and closer places interact more.

Rank-Size Rule

The observation that in many countries, the population of a city is inversely proportional to its rank. The second-largest city is ½ the size of the largest, the third-largest is ⅓ the size, and so on.

Urban Hearth

The earliest regions in the world where cities first emerged, including Mesopotamia, the Nile Valley, the Indus Valley, the Huang He Valley, and Mesoamerica.

Central Business District (CBD)

The commercial and economic core of a city, characterized by high land values, dense development, major retail and office space, and the concentration of business activity. Often called "downtown."

Higher-Order Services

Goods and services that have a large range and threshold — they are purchased infrequently, require a large population to support, and are found only in larger cities (e.g., car dealerships, hospitals, universities, specialty stores).

Site

The absolute physical characteristics of a place where a settlement is located, including terrain, soil, climate, water supply, and natural resources.

Urbanization

The process by which an increasing proportion of a population comes to live in cities and towns, accompanied by the physical growth of urban areas and shifts in economic activity from agriculture to industry and services.

Clustered Rural Settlements

A settlement pattern in which homes, farms, and buildings are grouped closely together in a village, with farmland extending outward from the central cluster. Common in Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East.

Lower-Order Services

Goods and services with a small range and threshold — they are purchased frequently, require only a small population to be viable, and are found in even small towns (e.g., grocery stores, gas stations, convenience stores).

Situation

The relative location of a place in relation to the surrounding environment — including nearby cities, transportation routes, natural features, and other settlements. Situation explains why a place is important in a broader context.

Urban Hierarchy

The ranking of settlements according to their size and the types of services they offer, from small hamlets and villages at the bottom to large metropolises and primate cities at the top. Higher-ranked cities offer more and higher-order services.

Air and water quality

The scale of unusable to usable water and air in an area of a city. Water quality depends on the source and how it travels to the area where it is used.

Bid-rent theory

A geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance toward the Central Business District (CBD) increases. The closer land is to the CBD, the more competition there will be for it.

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 converted to other uses, often through zoning.

Infilling

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

Infrastructure

The underlying framework of services and amenities needed to support productive activity.

Linear settlement patterns

Settlements where buildings are clustered along a road, river, or dike to facilitate communication and transportation.

Long lot survey

A land survey system where land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals; found in places like Quebec and Louisiana.

Low density housing

Housing with fewer dwellings per unit area (e.g., large lots, more privacy, less congestion).

Medium density housing

Housing such as subdivisions or urban neighborhoods with a moderate number of dwellings per unit area.

High density housing

Housing with the highest number of residents per unit area (e.g., condos), often more congested and noisy.

Metes and bounds system

A land surveying system using natural features and landmarks to define property boundaries, primarily east of the Appalachian Mountains.

Reurbanization

The movement of people back into previously abandoned urban areas, often encouraged by government initiatives.

Satellite City

A smaller city near a larger one that grows and becomes independent.

Suburbanization

The movement of people from urban cores to surrounding suburbs to escape pollution and social issues.

Sustainable design initiatives

Efforts using smart growth and green building to create environmentally responsible and economically viable communities.

Township and range system

A rectangular land division system designed by Thomas Jefferson to organize settlement across U.S. interior lands.