AP Human Geography Models

AP Human Geography Models Study Guide

Agriculture

  • Von Thunen Agricultural Model
      - Description: Explains the connection of different agricultural practices and the location of the market.
      - Importance: Accounts for land needed and transportation costs associated with different agricultural practices.

Culture

  • Carl Sauer's Cultural Landscape
      - Proposed Idea: Cultural Landscape where human activity superimposes itself on the physical landscape.
      - Significance: Each cultural group leaves its unique imprints on the landscape, forming the basis for the study of Human Geography.

Development

  • Brandt Line
      - Theorized In: 1980
      - Concept: Divides the world into developed (North) and less developed (South) regions.

  • Human Development Index (HDI)
      - Categories:
        1. Very High Human Development
        2. High Human Development
        3. Medium Human Development
        4. Low Human Development
      - Metrics: Measures life expectancy, education (mean years of schooling and expected years of schooling), and Gross National Income (adjusted Purchasing Power Parity).

  • Losch Model of Profitability
      - Explanation: Manufacturing plants select locations to maximize profit.

  • Rostow's Stages of Economic Development
      - Five Stages:
        1. Traditional Society
        2. Pre-conditions to Take-off (Primary Sector)
        3. Take-off (Industry)
        4. Maturity
        5. High Mass Consumption

  • Wallerstein's World Systems Theory
      - Theoretical Framework: The world is a unified economic system where countries have different roles and interdependence.
      - Categorization: Divides the world into Core, Periphery, and Semi-periphery regions.

Industry and Services

  • Clark’s Industrial Sectors
      - Categories:
        - Primary: Extractive of natural resources
        - Secondary: Manufacturing and industry
        - Tertiary: Services
        - Quaternary: Activities involving information collection, processing, and manipulation
        - Quinary: Managerial or decision-making functions associated with large corporations or government officials
      - Division of Labor: Emphasizes the specialization within different sectors and their responsibilities in the economy.

  • Weber’s Least Cost Model
      - Explanation: Describes the relationship between transportation costs of materials for bulk-gaining and bulk-reducing industries in relation to production sites and market distances.

Migration

  • Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration
      - Laws:
        1. Most migration is over short distances.
        2. Migration occurs in steps.
        3. Long-range migrants usually move to urban areas.
        4. Each migration generates a counter-movement.
        5. Rural dwellers show higher migratory tendencies than urban dwellers.
        6. Within countries, females are more migratory than males, but males tend to migrate longer distances.
        7. Most migrants are adults.
        8. Large towns grow through migration rather than natural increases.
        9. Migration increases with economic development.
        10. Economic factors are the primary reason for migration.

Political Geography

  • Evolution of Boundaries
      - Types:
        1. Antecedent: Boundaries drawn before the population is established.
        2. Superimposed: Boundaries that disregard existing ethnic groups.
        3. Subsequent: Boundaries drawn after population establishment.
        4. Relict: Boundaries that no longer serve their original purpose.
        - Proposed by Richard Hartshorne.

  • Territorial Morphology
      - Categories:
        1. Compact
        2. Prorupt
        3. Elongated
        4. Fragmented
        5. Perforated

Population

  • Demographic Transition Model
      - Purpose: Explains the relationship between development and changes in birth rates, death rates, and population growth.

  • Malthusian Theory
      - Key Points:
        1. Food supply grows arithmetically.
        2. Population grows exponentially.
        3. Population checks include:
            - Positive Checks: Factors that increase death rates (e.g., famine, disease).
            - Negative Checks: Factors that decrease birth rates (e.g., contraception, family planning).
      - Significance: Provides insight into the implications of population growth on resources and sustainability.

Urbanization

  • African Model of Cities
      - Description: Similar to concentric zone models, with rings extending from the commercial center, characterized by slum-like settlements on the periphery.

  • Central Place Theory
      - General Explanation: Describes the relationships between business locations and population centers
        - Consumers travel shorter distances for essential products but further for luxury or consumer goods.
      - Administrative Principle: Addresses problems in sharing services among centers so that lower-order centers fit entirely within the hexagon of higher-order centers.
      - Marketing Principle: Indicates more lower-order towns than higher-order cities (e.g., three times more towns than cities, but each city has a market three times larger).
      - Transportation Principle: Arranges cities to connect essential places in the most efficient manner; lower-order centers are placed along edges of hexagons rather than corners.

  • Concentric Zone Model
      - Assumption: Central Business District (CBD) is at the center, with home values/rents increasing as distance from the city center increases.

  • Eastern European Model of Cities
      - Characteristics: Maintains a historic center with unchanged features, surrounded by elite residential and industrial zones, with retail centers near the historic core serving as tourist attractions.

  • Galactic City Model
      - Description: Consists of mini edge cities connected to a larger city via beltways or highways.

  • Gravity Model
      - Application: Calculates interaction between urban centers based on their size and distance, noting that larger cities have greater draw power with interaction decreasing as size and distance increase.

  • Latin America Model of Cities
      - Growth Pattern: Expands around a historic city center, with sectors extending from it characterized by upper class housing and slums; new developments, including modern industrial parks, are found on the periphery.

  • Multiple Nuclei Model
      - Conceptual Focus: Acknowledges the increasing importance of cars and commuting, leading to the emergence of different nuclei that functionally support one another.

  • Peripheral Model
      - Description: Consists of an inner city surrounded by expansive suburban residential and business areas tied together via beltways or ring roads.

  • Primate City Rule
      - Definition: The largest city in a country is more than twice the size of the next largest city in terms of population and significance.
      - Purpose: Explains the disproportionate size and importance of certain cities in relation to others.

  • Rank-Size Rule
      - Explanation:
        - Rank 1: Largest city
        - Rank 2: 1/2 the population of Rank 1
        - Rank 3: 1/3 the population of Rank 1
        - Rank 4: 1/4 the population of Rank 1
        - Rank 5: 1/5 the population of Rank 1
      - Implication: If cities are arranged in order of size, each one has a population that is half of the preceding city's.

  • Sector Model
      - Description: Different activities emerge from the CBD, spreading out in wedge-shaped areas influenced by environmental factors.

  • Southeast Model of Cities
      - Features: Centered around a port with distinct sectors for Chinese, Indian, and Western zones; shows division among elites, squatter settlements, and new industries.

  • Western European Model of Cities
      - Characteristics: Maintains a relatively unchanged historic center over the past century, with growth emanating from the city towards the periphery, where industrial centers are typically located.