Geographer Study Set

Ernest Burgess, Concentric Zone Model

Describes urban environments as a series of rings radiating out from a central business district.

Walter Christaller, Central Place Theory

Explains the distribution of services based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas.

William Denevan, Native American depopulation

Researched the "Pristine Myth" and estimated the massive decline of indigenous populations due to European disease.

Larry Ford and Ernst Griffin, Latin American City Model

Combines radial sectors and concentric zones with a thriving CBD and a "spine" of elite residential areas.

Homer Hoyt, Sector Model

Proposes that cities develop in wedge-shaped sectors radiating outward from the center along transportation corridors.

Thomas Malthus, Malthusian Theory

Predicted that population growth would eventually outpace food production leading to catastrophic checks.

Friedrich Ratzel, Anthropogeographie

Known as the father of human geography and for Organic Theory which compares nations to living organisms.

Walt Rostow, Stages of Growth

A five-stage model of economic development that transitions from traditional society to high mass consumption.

Carl Sauer, Cultural Landscape

Defined the "cultural landscape" as the visible imprint of human activity on the physical environment.

Johann Heinrich von Thünen, Isolated State Model

Explains agricultural land use patterns based on the cost of transportation to a central market.

Immanuel Wallerstein, World Systems Theory

Divides the global economy into a Core and Periphery based on economic exploitation and social structure.

Alfred Weber, Least Cost Theory

Determines the optimal location of a manufacturing plant based on the costs of transportation and labor.