Geographic and Economic Models Review

Vocabulary-based flashcards covering major geographic, demographic, and economic theories including DTM, urban structures, and development models.

Demographic Transition Model (DTM)

A model that explains how a country's population changes over time through four main stages based on birth and death rates.

DTM Stage $1$

Characterized by high birth rates and high death rates due to limited healthcare and agricultural technology, resulting in slow population growth.

DTM Stage $2$

Characterized by falling death rates due to improved medical care and food production while birth rates remain high, leading to rapid population growth.

DTM Stage $3$

Birth rates start to decline as education improves and family planning becomes common; population continues to grow at a slower rate.

DTM Stage $4$

Characterized by low and relatively stable birth and death rates, resulting in slow or no population growth; typical of developed countries.

Epidemiological Transition Model

Explains how patterns of health and disease change as societies develop over time through distinct stages.

Age of Pestilence and Famine

Stage $1$ of the epidemiological transition model, where societies experience high death rates due to infectious diseases and poor nutrition.

Age of Receding Pandemics

Stage $2$ of the epidemiological transition model, where improved sanitation and public health lead to declining death rates while birth rates remain high.

Age of Degenerative and Man-Made Diseases

Stage $3$ of the epidemiological transition model, where chronic conditions like heart disease and cancer become common as life expectancy increases.

Age of Delayed Degenerative Diseases

Stage $4$ of the epidemiological transition model, where medical advances help people live longer with chronic conditions.

Epidemiological Transition Stage $5$

A proposed stage marked by emerging infectious diseases and the reappearance of controlled diseases due to antibiotic resistance and environmental changes.

Malthusian Theory

Developed by Thomas Malthus in the late $1700 ext{s}$, stating that population grows exponentially ($2, 4, 8, 16$) while food production increases only arithmetically ($2, 4, 6, 8$).

Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory

Explains economic interaction by dividing nations into three categories: core, semi-peripheral, and peripheral.

Core Nations

Economically powerful and technologically advanced countries, like the United States and Western Europe, that often control global trade.

Semi-peripheral Nations

Nations like Brazil and India that act as a buffer, having moderate development and serving as both exploiters and the exploited.

Peripheral Nations

Least economically developed nations, often found in Africa and parts of Asia, supplying raw materials and cheap labor.

Bid Rent Theory

Explains how different land uses compete for city locations based on the maximum rent they are willing to pay, with retail usually paying the most in the center.

Von Thunen’s Model

Developed in $1826$, it explains the organization of agricultural land in concentric rings around a market city based on transportation costs and perishability.

The Gravity Model

A model stating that interaction between two places is determined by their population sizes and the distance between them.

Central Place Theory

Developed by Walter Christaller in $1933$, it explains the spatial organization of settlements as 'central places' providing services to surrounding areas.

Threshold

The minimum population needed to support a specific service or business.

Range

The maximum distance people are willing to travel for a specific good or service.

Burgess Concentric Zone Model

Developed in $1925$, it theorizes that cities expand outward from the Central Business District (CBD) in five distinct concentric rings.

Hoyt Sector Model

Developed in $1939$, it suggests that cities grow in wedge-shaped sectors along major transportation corridors like railroads and highways.

Harris Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model

Developed in $1945$, it suggests that cities develop around several distinct centers or 'nuclei' rather than a single CBD.

Galactic City Model

Developed by Ernest Griffin in $1991$, it describes metropolitan areas expanding from a CBD into multiple suburban centers or 'edge cities.'

Edge Cities

Suburban centers with significant office space, retail, and entertainment that develop around major transportation intersections.

Latin American City Model

Developed by Ernst Griffin and Larry Ford in $1980$, it features a CBD with an elite residential spine and informal settlements on the periphery.

Sub-Saharan African City Model

Urban structure featuring a CBD with modern and traditional markets, radial transportation, and informal settlements at the outskirts.

Southeast Asian City Model

A model featuring multiple nuclei of commercial activity, ethnic clustering, and industrial zones located along major waterways.

Weber’s Least Cost Theory

Developed by Alfred Weber in $1909$, it identifies transportation costs, labor costs, and agglomeration as the key factors in business location.

Dependency Theory

Explains how wealthy nations maintain power by exploiting resources and labor from less developed countries, keeping them in a cycle of economic dependence.

Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth

A five-stage model developed in $1960$ tracing development from traditional society to the age of high mass consumption.