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AGGLOMERATION

clustering of economic activities, industries, or populations in a specific area, often in urban regions or around key resources or transportation hubs.

ANCILLARY ACTIVITIES

Economic activities that surround and support large-scale industries such as shipping and food service

BACKWASH EFFECTS:

The negative effects on one region that result from economic growth within another region.

BREAK-BULK POINT:

A location where large shipments of goods are broken up into smaller containers for delivery to local markets.

BRICK-AND-MORTAR BUSINESSES:

Traditional businesses with actual stores in which trade or retail occurs; they do not exist solely on the internet.

BULK-GAINING INDUSTRIES:

Industries whose products weigh more after assembly than they did previously in their constituent parts. Such industries tend to have production facilities close to their markets.

BULK-REDUCING INDUSTRIES:

Industries whose final products weigh less than their constituent parts, and whose processing facilities tend to be located close to sources of raw materials.

COMMODITY DEPENDENCE:

When peripheral economies rely too heavily on the export of raw materials, which places them on unequal terms of exchange with more-developed countries that export higher-value goods.

CONGLOMERATE CORPORATION:

A firm comprising many smaller firms that serve several different functions.

CORE:

National or global regions where economic power, in terms of wealth, innovation, and advanced technology, is concentrated.

CORE PERIPHERY MODEL:

A model of the spatial structure of development in which underdeveloped countries are defined by their dependence on a developed core region.

COTTAGE INDUSTRY:

An industry in which the production of goods and services is based in homes, as opposed to factories.

DEGLOMERATION:

The dispersal of an industry that formerly existed in an established agglomeration.

DEINDUSTRIALIZATION:

Loss of industrial activity in a region.

DEVELOPMENT:

The process of economic growth, expansion, or realization of regional resource potential.

E-COMMERCE:

Web-based economic activities.

ECONOMIC BACKWATERS

Regions that fail to gain from national economic development.

ECOTOURISM

A form of tourism, based on the enjoyment of scenic areas or natural wonders, that aims to provide an experience of nature or culture in an environmentally sustainable way.

EXPORT-PROCESSING ZONE:

Area where governments create favorable investment and trading conditions to attract export-oriented industries.

FAST WORLD:

Areas of the world, usually the economic core, that experience greater levels of connection due to high-speed telecommunications and transportation technologies.

FOOTLOOSE FIRMS:

Manufacturing activities in which the cost of transporting both raw materials and finished product is not important for determining the location of the firm.

FORDISM:

system of standardized mass production attributed to Henry Ford.

FOREIGN INVESTMENTS:

Overseas business investments made by private companies.

GENDER EQUITY:

A measure of the opportunities given to women compared to men within a given country.

GLOBALIZATION:

the idea that the world is becoming increasingly interconnected on a global scale such that smaller scales of political and economic life are becoming obsolete.

GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT

The total value of goods and services produced within the borders of a country during a specific time period, usually one year.

GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT:

measure of the total value of all goods and services produced by the residents of a country, both domestically and abroad, within a specific time period, typically a year.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX:

Measure used by the United Nations that calculates development not in terms of money or productivity but in terms of human welfare. The HDI evaluates human welfare based on three parameters: life expectancy, education, and income.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

The rapid economic and social changes in manufacturing that resulted after the introduction of the factory system to the textile industry in England at the end of the 18th century.

INDUSTRIALIZATION:

Process of industrial development in which countries evolve economically, from producing basic, primary goods to using modern factories for mass-producing goods. At the highest levels of development, national economies are geared mainly toward the delivery of services and exchange of information.

INDUSTRIALIZED COUNTRIES:

Those countries, including Britain, France, the United States, Russia, Germany, and Japan, that were all at the forefront of industrial production and innovation through the middle of the 20th century. While industry is currently shifting to other countries to take advantage of cheaper labor and more relaxed environmental standards, these countries still account for a large portion of the world's total industrial output.

LEAST-COST THEORY:

A concept developed by Alfred Weber to describe the optimal location of a manufacturing establishment in relation to the costs of transport and labor, and the relative advantages of agglomeration or deglomeration.

LEAST-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES:

those countries, including countries in Africa (except for South Africa), parts of South America, and Asia, that usually have low levels of economic productivity, low per-capita incomes, and generally low standards of living.

MANUFACTURING REGION:

A region in which manufacturing activities have clustered together. The major US industrial region has historically been in the Great Lakes, which includes the states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. Industrial regions also exist in southeastern Brazil, central England, around Tokyo, Japan, and elsewhere.

MAQUILADORAS:

Cities where US firms have factories just outside the United States - Mexican border in areas that have been specially designated by the Mexican government. In such areas, factories cheaply assemble goods for export back into the United States.

MICROLENDING:

small amounts of money are lent to individuals, typically in developing countries, to help them start or expand small businesses or income-generating activities.

NET NATIONAL PRODUCT:

A measure of all goods and services produced by a country in a year, including production from its investments abroad, minus the loss or degradation of natural resource capital as a result of productivity.

NONRENEWABLE RESOURCES:

Natural resources, such as fossil fuels, that do not replenish themselves in a timeframe that is relevant for human consumption.

OFFSHORE FINANCIAL CENTERS:

Areas that have been specially designed to promote business transactions, and thus have become centers for banking and finance.

OUTSOURCING:

Sending industrial processes out for external production. The term outsourcing increasingly applies not only to traditional industrial functions but also to the contracting of service industry functions to companies in overseas locations, where operating costs remain relatively low.

PERIPHERY:

Countries that usually have low levels of economic productivity, low per-capita incomes, and generally low standards of living. The world economic periphery includes Africa (except for South Africa), parts of South America, and Asia.

PRIMARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES:

Economic activities in which natural resources are made available for use or further processing, including mining, agriculture, forestry, and fishing.

PRODUCTIVITY:

a measure of the goods and services produced within a particular country.

PURCHASING-POWER PARITY:

A monetary measurement of development that takes into account what money buys in different countries.

QUATERNARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES:

Economic activities concerned with research, information gathering, and administration.

QUINARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES:

The most advanced form of quaternary activities consisting of high-level decision-making for large corporations or high-level scientific research.

REGIONALIZATION:

The process by which specific regions acquire characteristics that differentiate them from others within the same country. In economic geography, regionalization involves the development of dominant economic activities in particular regions.

RENEWABLE RESOURCES:

Any natural resource that can replenish itself in a relatively short period of time, usually no longer than the length of a human life.

ROSTOW'S STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT (ECONOMIC GROWTH):

A model of economic development that describes a country's progression, which occurs in five stages, transforming them from least-developed to most-developed countries.

SECONDARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES:

Economic activities concerned with the processing of raw materials, such as manufacturing, construction, and power generation.

SEMIPERIPHERY:

Those newly industrialized countries with median standards of living, such as Chile, Brazil, India, China, and Indonesia. Semiperipheral countries offer their citizens relatively diverse economic opportunities but also have extreme gaps between rich and poor.

SERVICE-BASED ECONOMIES:

Highly developed economies that focus on research and development, marketing, tourism, sales, and telecommunications.

SLOW WORLD:

The developing world that does not experience the benefits of high-speed telecommunications and transportation technology.

SPATIALLY FIXED COSTS:

An input cost in manufacturing that remains constant wherever production is located.

SPATIALLY VARIABLE COSTS:

an input cost in manufacturing that changes significantly from place to place in its total amount and in its relative share of total costs.

SPECIALTY GOODS

Goods that are not mass-produced but rather assembled individually or in small quantities.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The idea that people living today should be able to meet their needs without prohibiting the ability of future generations to do the same.

TERTIARY ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

Activities that provide the market exchange of goods and that bring together consumers and providers of services, such as retail, transportation, government, personal, and professional services.

TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION

A firm that conducts business in at least two separate countries; also known as multinational corporations.

WORLD CITIES:

A group of cities that form an interconnected, internationally dominant system of global control of finance and commerce.

WORLD-SYSTEMS THEORY:

Theory developed by Immanuel Wallerstein that explains the emergence of a core, periphery, and semiperiphery in terms of economic and political connections first established at the beginning of exploration in the late 15th century and maintained through increased economic access up until the present.

HINTERLAND:

The market area surrounding an urban center, which that urban center serves.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:

Period characterized by the rapid social and economic changes in manufacturing and agriculture that occurred in England during the late 18th century and rapidly diffused to other parts of the developed world.

INNER-CITY DECAY:

Those parts of large urban areas that lose significant portions of their populations as a result of change in industry or migration to suburbs. Because of these changes, the inner city loses its tax base and becomes a center of poverty.

ISLAMIC CITIES:

Cities in Muslim countries that owe their structure to their religious beliefs. Islamic cities contain mosques at their center and walls guarding their perimeter. Open-air markets, courtyards surrounded by high walls, and dead-end streets, which limit foot traffic in residential neighborhoods, also characterize Islamic cities.

LATIN AMERICAN CITIES:

Cities in Latin America that owe much of their structure to colonialism, the rapid rise of industrialization, and continual rapid increases in population. Similar to other colonial cities, they also demonstrate distinctive sectors of industrial or residential development radiating out from the central business district, where most industrial and financial activity occurs.

MEDIEVAL CITIES:

Cities that developed in Europe during the Medieval Period and that contain such unique features as extreme density of development with narrow buildings and winding streets, an ornate church that prominently marks the city center, and high walls surrounding the city center that provided defense against attack.

MEGACITIES:

cities mostly in developing world where high population growth and migration have caused them to explode in population since World War II. All megacities are plagued by chaotic and unplanned growth, terrible pollution, and widespread poverty.

MEGALOPOLIS:

Several metropolitan areas that were originally separate but that have joined together to form a large, sprawling urban complex.

METACITIES:

Larger than megacities, metacities describe an urban region where multiple dense areas/cores are interspersed with suburbs and green spaces (and squatter settlements in the case of developing countries).

METROPOLITAN AREA:

Within the United States, an urban area consisting of one or more whole county units, usually containing several urbanized areas, or suburbs, that all act together as a coherent economic whole.

MODERN ARCHITECTURE:

Point of view, wherein cities and buildings are thought to act like well-oiled machines, with little energy spent on frivolous details or ornate designs. Efficient, geometrical structures made of concrete and glass dominated urban forms for half a century while this view prevailed.

MULTIPLE-NUCLEI MODEL:

Type of urban form wherein cities have numerous centers of business and cultural activity instead of one central place.

NEW URBANISM:

A movement in urban planning to promote mixed-use commercial and residential development and pedestrian-friendly, community-oriented cities. New urbanism is a reaction to the sprawling, automobile-centered cities of the mid-20th century.

NODE:

Geographical centers of activity. A large city, such as Los Angeles, has numerous nodes.

POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE:

A reaction in architectural design to the feeling of sterile alienation that many people get from modern architecture. Postmodernism uses older, historical styles and a sense of lightheartedness and eclecticism. Buildings combine pleasant-looking forms and playful colors to convey new ideas and to create spaces that are more people-friendly than their modernist predecessors.

PRIMATE CITY:

A country's leading city, with a population that is disproportionately greater than other urban areas within the same country.

RANK-SIZE RULE:

Rule that states that the population of any given town should be inversely proportional to its rank in the country's hierarchy when the distribution of cities according to their sizes follows a certain pattern.

SECTOR MODEL:

A model of urban land use that places the central business district in the middle, with wedge-shaped sectors radiating outward from the center along transportation corridors.

SEGREGATION:

The process that results from suburbanization when affluent individuals leave the city center for homogenous suburban neighborhoods. This process isolates those individuals who cannot afford to consider relocating to suburban neighborhoods and must remain in certain pockets of the central city.

SQUATTER SETTLEMENTS:

Residential developments characterized by extreme poverty that usually exist on land just outside of cities that is neither owned nor rented by its occupants.

SUBURBS:

Residential communities, located outside of city centers, that are usually relatively homogenous in terms of population.

URBAN-GROWTH BOUNDARIES:

Geographical boundaries placed around a city to limit suburban growth within that city.

URBAN MORPHOLOGY:

The physical form of a city or urban region.

URBAN REVITALIZATION:

The process occurring in some urban areas experiencing inner-city decay that usually involves the construction of new shopping districts, entertainment venues, and cultural attractions to entice young urban professionals back into the cities, where nightlife and culture are more accessible.

URBAN SPRAWL:

outward expansion of cities into surrounding rural areas, resulting in low-density development, fragmented land use, and increased reliance on automobiles.

WHITE FLIGHT:

The abandonment of cities by affluent or middle-class white residents. White flight was particularly problematic during the mid-20th century because it resulted in the loss of tax revenues to cities, which led to inner-city decay. This process reversed itself somewhat during the 1990s and 2000s with urban revitalization projects.

WORLD CITIES:

Centers of economic, cultural, and political activity that are strongly interconnected and together control the global systems of finance and commerce.

SPATIAL PERSPECTIVE \

An intellectual framework that looks at the particular locations of a specific phenomenon, how and why that phenomenon is where it is, and, finally, how it is spatially related to phenomena in other places.

SUSTAINABILITY

The concept of using Earth's resources in such a way that they provide for people's needs in the present without diminishing Earth's ability to provide for future generations.

THEMATIC LAYERS

Individual maps of specific features that are overlaid on one another in a Geographic Information System to understand and analyze a spatial relationship.

THEMATIC MAP

A type of map that displays one or more variables-such as population or income level-within a specific area.

TIME-SPACE CONVERGENCE

The idea that distance between some places is actually shrinking as technology enables more rapid communication and increased interaction among those places.

TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS

Maps that use isolines to represent constant elevations. If you took a topographic map out into the field and walked exactly along the path of an isoline on your map, you would always stay at the same elevation.

TRANSFERABILITY

The costs involved in moving goods from one place to another.

VISUALIZATION

Use of sophisticated software to create dynamic computer maps, some of which are three dimensional or interactive.

AGE-SEX DISTRIBUTION

model used in population geography that describes the ages and numbers of males and females within a given population; also called a population pyramid.

AGRICULTURAL DENSITY

The number of farmers per unit area of farmland.

ARITHMETIC DENSITY

The number of people living in a given unit area.

BABY BOOM

A cohort of individuals born in the United States between 1946 and 1964, which was just after World War II in a time of relative peace and prosperity. These conditions allowed for better education and job opportunities, encouraging high rates of both marriage and fertility.