models and theorys

Malthusian Theory

Population growth will eventually outpace food production, leading to famine and disease.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

A model showing the shift from high birth and death rates to low birth and death rates as a country develops from a pre-industrial to an industrialized economic system.

Epidemiological Transition Model

Describes the shift in disease patterns as societies develop; from infectious diseases to chronic and degenerative diseases.

Gravity Model

Predicts interaction between places based on population size and distance; interaction is proportional to the product of populations and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Interaction = (Pop1 * Pop2) / Distance^2

Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth

A linear model of development outlining five stages that countries pass through in developing their economies: Traditional society, preconditions for take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, and age of high mass consumption.

Wallerstein's World Systems Theory

Divides the world into core, periphery, and semi-periphery countries; core countries dominate and exploit periphery countries for labor and raw materials.

Core-Periphery Model

Describes the spatial relationship between economically advanced (core) regions and less developed (periphery) regions.

Dependency Theory

Resources flow from poor and underdeveloped states (the periphery) to wealthy states (the core), enriching the latter at the expense of the former.

Heartland Theory (Mackinder)

Control over Eurasia (the 'Heartland') could lead to world domination; key to controlling the 'World Island' of Eurasia and Africa.

Rimland Theory (Spykman)

Control of the 'Rimland' (coastal areas of Eurasia) is key to controlling the 'Heartland'. Rimland is more important than the heartland.

Environmental Determinism

The environment determines the patterns of human culture and societal development.

Possibilism

The environment sets certain constraints or limitations, but culture is otherwise determined by social conditions.

Central Place Theory (Christaller)

Explains the size and spacing of cities, specializing in the service sector, are spatially distributed. Settlements provide a range of goods and services to their surrounding areas.

Von Thünen Model

Explains agricultural land use patterns; intensive farming is located closer to the market, while extensive farming is further away.

Weber's Least Cost Theory

Explains the optimal location of industries based on transportation costs, labor costs, and agglomeration economies.

Losch's Profit Maximization

Companies will try to locate themselves where they can maximize profits. Manufacturing plants choose locations where they can maximize profits.

Hotelling's Location Theory

Competitors will attempt to maximize sales by constraining each other's territory; they will move closer together to eliminate each other's advantage.

Ratzel’s Organic Theory of Nations

Nations act like living organisms that must grow and expand into