Note
Studied by 3 peopleNoteStudied by 9 peopleNoteStudied by 12 peopleNoteStudied by 70 peopleNoteStudied by 22 peopleNoteStudied by 794 peopleAP Human Geo Exam Vocab
Absolute Location: The exact spot on Earth using coordinates (like 40°N, 74°W).
Relative Location: Where a place is compared to other places (e.g., "next to the park").
Longitude and Latitude: Lines used to measure absolute location—latitude runs east-west, longitude runs north-south.
🗺 Geography of Place
Site: The physical characteristics of a place (e.g., soil, water, climate).
Situation: A place’s location in relation to other places (e.g., near a major highway or port).
Topography: The shape of the land (hills, valleys, elevation, etc.).
🗾 Maps and Mapping
Map Distortion: When a map changes shape, size, distance, or direction because Earth is round and maps are flat.
Shape: Land may look stretched or squashed.
Size: Continents may appear larger or smaller.
Distance: Space between places might not be accurate.
Direction: Angles between places may be skewed.
Map Projections: Different ways to show Earth on a flat map:
Mercator: Good for direction; distorts size (Greenland looks huge).
Robinson: Balances distortion; nothing is perfect, but everything is decent.
Equal Area: Keeps area correct; shapes get stretched.
Conformal: Keeps shape; size can be distorted.
🗃 Types of Maps
Reference Maps: Show places and features like cities and roads.
Thematic Maps: Show data on a topic (like population or climate).
Dot Distribution: Uses dots to show frequency (each dot = number of people).
Choropleth: Uses colors or shades to show value differences.
Graduated Symbol: Uses different-sized shapes to show amounts.
Isoline: Uses lines to connect places with similar data (like elevation or temperature).
📡 Geospatial Tech
Sources of Geospatial Information: Data from GPS, satellites, fieldwork, etc.
Geographic Information Systems (GIS): Software that layers maps and data to analyze patterns.
Satellite Navigation (like GPS): Uses satellites to find exact locations.
Remote Sensing: Collecting data from far away—usually satellites taking pictures.
🏞 Landscapes and Place
Sense of Place: How people feel about and connect with a location.
Natural Landscape: What the land looks like without humans (trees, rivers, etc.).
Soil, climate, vegetation, elevation: All parts of the natural environment.
Cultural Landscape: What humans have built or changed (buildings, roads, farms).
Language, architecture, technology, settlement patterns: Clues to culture on the land.
🌆 Human Footprint
Toponyms: Names of places (like “New York” or “Rio de Janeiro”).
Sequent Occupancy: Layers of history in a place as different groups live there over time.
Vernacular Architecture: Traditional buildings that reflect local culture and materials.
📏 Scale and Patterns
Scale: The level of detail or area being studied.
Scales of Analysis: How zoomed-in you are when studying:
Global: Whole world.
Regional: A part of the world (like Europe or Sub-Saharan Africa).
National: One country.
Local: A city or neighborhood.
Spatial Patterns:
Clustering: Things are close together.
Dispersal: Things are spread out.
Flows: Movement of people, goods, or ideas.
Distance Decay: The farther things are, the less they interact.
Time-Space Compression: Technology makes faraway places feel closer (like video calls or fast travel).
📍 Regions
Formal or Thematic Regions: Areas with one shared trait (like a language or crop).
Administrative Regions: Political boundaries (like states or countries).
Functional or Nodal Regions: Based around a central point (like a metro area around a city).
Perceptual or Vernacular Regions: Based on people’s ideas or feelings (like “the South” in the U.S.).
Uniform and Non-uniform Membership:
Uniform: Everyone shares the same trait in the region.
Non-uniform: The trait is more common in the center and fades out.
🌱 Human-Environment Interaction
Environmental Determinism: The idea that nature controls human behavior (now mostly rejected).
Environmental Possibilism: Humans can adapt and choose how to live in different environments.
Cultural Ecology: How people interact with the environment.
Nature-Culture Dualism: The idea of nature and humans being separate (but geographers often see them as connected).
🌐 Global Ideas
Globalization: The world is becoming more connected through trade, communication, and culture.
Americanization: The spread of U.S. culture around the world.
📊 Population Density and Measurement
Agricultural Density: Number of farmers per unit of farmable land. Shows how much labor is used in farming.
Arithmetic Density: Total population divided by total land area. Basic population per square unit.
Physiological Density: Total population divided by arable (farmable) land. Shows pressure on food resources.
👶 Population Growth and Demographics
Crude Birth Rate (CBR): Number of births per 1,000 people in a year.
Crude Death Rate (CDR): Number of deaths per 1,000 people in a year.
Rate of Natural Increase (RNI): Birth rate minus death rate, showing population growth without migration.
Total Fertility Rate (TFR): Average number of children a woman will have.
Replacement Rate: TFR needed to maintain population size (around 2.1 in most places).
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): Babies who die before turning 1, per 1,000 live births.
Child Mortality Rate: Children who die before age 5, per 1,000 live births.
📈 Population Models and Theories
Demographic Transition Model (DTM): Shows population change over time based on birth and death rates (5 stages).
Epidemiological Transition Model (ETM): Shows how disease and causes of death change as a country develops.
Malthusian Theory: Thomas Malthus said population would grow faster than food, leading to famine and crisis.
Neo-Malthusians: Modern thinkers who worry that population growth still threatens food and resources.
Boserup’s Theory: Argued population growth leads to more innovation in agriculture.
Erlich and “The Population Bomb”: A book that predicted overpopulation would lead to disaster—sparked debate but many predictions didn’t come true.
🚨 Population Challenges and Pressures
Life Expectancy: Average number of years a person is expected to live.
Carrying Capacity: The maximum population an environment can support without damage.
Pronatalist Policy: Government supports having more children (e.g., baby bonuses).
Antinatalist Policy: Government tries to reduce births (e.g., China’s past One-Child Policy).
Population Pyramid: A graph showing age and gender structure of a population.
Dependency Ratio: Number of people who rely on the working population (young + elderly).
Population Doubling Time: How long it will take for a population to double.
More Developed Countries (MDCs): Wealthy, industrialized countries with low birth/death rates.
Less Developed Countries (LDCs): Poorer nations with higher birth/death rates and faster population growth.
OECD Countries: Mostly wealthy countries working together on development and economics.
🧭 Migration and Movement
Pull Factors: Things that attract people to a new place (e.g., jobs, safety, schools).
Push Factors: Things that force people to leave (e.g., war, disaster, poverty).
Forced Migration: People are made to move by conflict, disaster, or persecution.
Voluntary Migration: People choose to move for better opportunities.
Internal Migration: Moving within the same country.
Step Migration: Migration in stages (e.g., village → town → city).
Chain Migration: People move where family or others from their community already live.
💼 Labor, Refugees, and Special Migration
Guest Workers: Temporary workers from other countries, usually in low-skill jobs.
Remittances: Money sent by migrants back to their families in their home countries.
Refugees: People fleeing danger, violence, or persecution across borders.
Asylum Seekers: Refugees asking for legal protection in another country.
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs): Forced to move but stay within their own country.
Intervening Opportunities: Better options found along the way that stop someone from continuing their journey.
Intervening Obstacles: Barriers that make migration harder (like borders, money, laws).
🐮 Other Types of Migration
Transhumance: Seasonal movement of animals and herders between high and low lands.
The Great Migration: Mass movement of African Americans from the rural South to cities in the North in the early 1900s.
🧱 Types of Boundaries
Cultural Boundaries: Based on language, religion, or ethnicity.
Geometric Boundaries: Straight lines drawn by humans, like latitude or longitude.
Physical Boundaries: Natural features like rivers, mountains, or deserts.
Superimposed Boundaries: Drawn by outsiders without regard to local cultures (e.g., colonization).
Relic Boundaries: No longer used but still visible (e.g., Berlin Wall).
🗺 Shapes and Features of States
Compact States: Nearly round, easy to govern (e.g., Poland).
Prorupted States: Mostly compact but with a long extension (e.g., Thailand).
Perforated States: A state that completely surrounds another (e.g., South Africa around Lesotho).
Elongated States: Long and narrow (e.g., Chile).
Fragmented States: Broken into pieces (e.g., Indonesia).
Landlocked States: No direct access to the ocean.
Enclaves: A territory completely surrounded by another (e.g., Lesotho).
Exclaves: A part of a state separated by another country (e.g., Alaska).
🏛 State and Nation Concepts
State: A political unit with defined territory, population, and sovereignty.
Microstate: A very small state (e.g., Vatican City).
Sovereignty: The right to govern without outside control.
Territoriality: Connection between people and their land.
Nation: A group of people with shared culture, language, and history.
Nation-State: A country made up mostly of one nation (e.g., Japan).
Stateless Nation: A nation with no own country (e.g., Kurds).
Multi-state Nation: A nation spread across multiple countries (e.g., Koreans).
Self-determination: The right for a nation to govern itself.
Multinational State: A state with multiple nations (e.g., Canada).
🌐 Global & Regional Organizations
United Nations (UN): Global peacekeeping and cooperation organization.
European Union (EU): Economic and political union of European countries.
Schengen Area: Part of Europe where people can move freely across borders.
Eurozone: EU countries that use the euro.
Brexit: The UK’s exit from the EU.
COMECON: Former economic group for communist states during the Cold War.
NATO: Military alliance of the U.S. and European allies.
Warsaw Pact: Military alliance of communist countries (no longer exists).
OPEC: Group of oil-producing countries.
ASEAN: Association of Southeast Asian Nations for economic/political cooperation.
Arab League: A group of Arabic-speaking countries with cultural/political ties.
NAFTA: Free trade agreement between U.S., Canada, and Mexico (now replaced by USMCA).
African Union: Political and economic union of African countries.
🗳 Types of Governments & States
Democracy: People have power through voting.
Autocracy: One person holds power (e.g., dictatorship).
Anocracy: Mix of democracy and autocracy.
Federal State: Power is shared between central and regional governments (e.g., U.S.).
Unitary State: Central government holds most power (e.g., France).
🌊 Laws and Agreements
UN Law of the Sea: Defines maritime borders and economic zones.
Arctic Council: Countries with land in the Arctic working on environmental issues.
🧭 National Identity and Conflict
Centripetal Forces: Unite a country (e.g., common language or national pride).
Centrifugal Forces: Divide a country (e.g., conflict, separate languages).
Ethnic Nationalism: National pride based on shared ethnicity.
Ethnic Separatism: Ethnic groups wanting independence.
Ethnic Cleansing: Forcing an ethnic group out of an area.
Civic Nationalism: Unity based on shared citizenship and values.
Devolution: Power moves from central government to local governments (e.g., Scotland).
Irredentism: Claiming land based on ethnic ties (e.g., Russia claiming parts of Ukraine).
Balkanization: Breaking a country into smaller hostile units (e.g., former Yugoslavia).
Breakaway Regions: Areas trying to separate and form their own government (e.g., Catalonia).
Shatterbelt: Region with frequent conflict and competing powers (e.g., Eastern Europe).
Chokepoint: Narrow passage (land or sea) that is important for trade (e.g., Strait of Hormuz).
Autonomous/Semi-Autonomous Regions: Areas with some self-rule (e.g., Hong Kong or Native American reservations).
🧠 Geopolitical Theories
Organic State Theory: States act like living organisms—must grow to survive.
Heartland Theory (Mackinder): Whoever controls Eastern Europe controls the world.
Rimland Theory (Spykman): Controlling coastal areas around Eurasia is key to power.
Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory: The world is divided into core, semi-periphery, and periphery countries based on wealth and power.
Huntington’s Civilizations Theory: Future conflicts will be based on cultural differences, not politics.
Sea Power Theory: Control of oceans = global power.
Domino Theory: If one country falls to communism, neighbors will follow (Cold War idea).
🗺 Political Geography
Redistricting: Redrawing voting districts, usually after a census.
Gerrymandering: Manipulating district lines to favor one party or group.
🌍 Culture Concepts
Cultural Relativism: Understanding a culture by its own values, not judging it.
Ethnocentrism: Believing your culture is superior to others.
Diffusion: How ideas, culture, and traits spread from one place to another.
🚚 Types of Diffusion
Relocation Diffusion: When people move and bring their culture with them.
Expansion Diffusion: Ideas spread outward from a center without people moving.
Hierarchical Diffusion: Spreads from important people/places to others (e.g., fashion).
Contagious Diffusion: Spreads quickly and widely like a virus (e.g., TikTok trends).
Stimulus Diffusion: An idea spreads but changes as it moves (e.g., McDonald's menus in India).
🏠 Cultural Change and Expression
Sequent Occupancy: Layers of cultures leaving marks on a place over time.
Vernacular Architecture: Local/traditional building styles.
Hearth: The starting place of an idea, culture, or religion.
Syncretism: Blending different cultures or beliefs into something new.
Pop Culture: Modern, widespread, constantly changing (e.g., movies, music).
Folk Culture: Traditional, slow to change, tied to place (e.g., handmade crafts).
Acculturation: Adopting parts of another culture while keeping your own.
Assimilation: Fully blending into another culture, losing the original.
Americanization: Spread of U.S. culture and values around the world.
Cultural Convergence: Cultures become more alike.
Cultural Divergence: Cultures stay separate or become more distinct.
Ethnic Neighborhoods: Areas in cities where one ethnic group is concentrated.
Ethnic Enclaves: A small area dominated by a single ethnic group.
Multicultural Landscapes: Places shaped by many different cultures.
Centripetal Forces: Things that bring people together (e.g., common language).
Centrifugal Forces: Things that divide people (e.g., religion, conflict).
Toponyms: Place names that reflect culture, history, or language.
🛐 Religions of the World
Universalizing Religions: Try to appeal to everyone, everywhere (e.g., Christianity, Islam).
Ethnic Religions: Tied to one group/place (e.g., Hinduism, Judaism).
Animism: Belief that nature has spirits (common in traditional African religions).
✝ Christianity
Roman Catholic: Largest branch, centered in Rome.
Eastern Orthodox: Based in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Protestant: Broke from Catholic Church (e.g., Lutherans, Baptists, Methodists, Mormons).
Oriental Orthodox (Coptic): Early Christian churches in Egypt and Ethiopia.
Spires and Arches: Common church architecture features.
☪ Islam
Sunni: Largest branch of Islam.
Shia: Smaller branch, mostly in Iran and parts of Iraq.
Domes, Minarets, Arabesque Art: Key features of Islamic architecture.
Mosque: Place of worship for Muslims.
Dome of the Rock: Islamic shrine in Jerusalem.
Hagia Sophia: Former church, then mosque, now a museum/mosque in Turkey.
Kaaba: Sacred cube-shaped building in Mecca.
🕉 Buddhism
Mahayana: Largest branch, popular in China, Japan, Korea.
Theravada: Oldest branch, in Southeast Asia.
Vajrayana: Also called Tibetan Buddhism.
Stupa: Dome-shaped Buddhist shrine.
✡ Judaism
Diaspora: Jews living outside of Israel.
Synagogue: Jewish place of worship.
🛕 Hinduism
Caste System: Traditional social hierarchy in India.
🌐 Syncretic Religions & Secularism
Sikhism: Blend of Islam and Hindu beliefs, founded in India.
Voodoo & Santería: Mix of African, Christian, and native beliefs in the Americas.
Secularism: Separation of religion from government and public life.
🗣 Language Spread and Structure
Mutual Intelligibility: When two speakers understand each other without learning the other’s language.
Dialects: Variations of a language with different words or grammar.
Accents: Different ways of pronouncing the same language.
Pidgin Languages: Simplified blend of languages for basic communication.
Creolized Languages: Pidgin that becomes a native language with full grammar.
Lingua Franca: Common language used for trade/communication (e.g., English).
Isoglosses: Boundaries between language or dialect areas.
Extinct Languages: No one speaks them anymore.
Endangered Languages: Few speakers left, at risk of extinction.
Multilingual States: Countries where multiple languages are spoken (e.g., Canada).
🌐 Language Families and Hearth Theories
Language Families: Big groups of related languages.
Indo-European: Largest family (e.g., English, Spanish, Hindi).
Romance: Spanish, French, Italian.
Germanic: English, German, Dutch.
Balto-Slavic: Russian, Polish.
Indo-Iranian: Hindi, Persian.
Anatolian Hearth Theory: Indo-European spread from Turkey with farming.
Kurgan Hearth Theory: Indo-European spread from Central Asia with conquest.
Sino-Tibetan: Chinese and other East Asian languages.
Niger-Congo: Most languages in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Austronesian: Languages of the Pacific islands and parts of Southeast Asia.
Afro-Asiatic: Arabic and Hebrew languages.
Dravidian: Languages in southern India.
Uralic: Languages like Finnish and Hungarian.
Diffusion of English: Spread globally through colonization, trade, media, and the internet.
🌾 Types of Agriculture
Subsistence Agriculture: Farming to feed your own family, not for sale.
Intensive Agriculture: Uses a lot of labor or money on a small area of land.
Extensive Agriculture: Uses more land with less effort or investment.
Shifting Cultivation: Move to a new field after soil wears out.
Swidden / Slash and Burn: Cut and burn forests to clear land for farming.
Pastoralism: Raising animals as the main way of life.
Transhumance: Seasonal movement of animals between pastures.
Wet Rice Farming: Growing rice in flooded fields.
Paddy: A flooded rice field.
Terrace Farming: Cutting steps into hills for farming on slopes.
Smallholder Crop and Livestock Farming: Small farms with both animals and crops.
Mixed Crop/Livestock Farming: Growing crops and raising animals on the same land.
🗺 Land Use Patterns
Cadastral Surveys: Maps showing land ownership and property lines.
Metes and Bounds: Uses landmarks and measurements to define land.
Township and Range: Grid system for land division in the U.S.
Long Lots: Narrow farms stretching back from rivers or roads.
🔄 Agricultural Land Use Models
Von Thünen Model: Explains where different farming happens around a city based on cost and land value.
Types of Rural Agricultural Settlements:
Clustered: Houses and farms are grouped together.
Dispersed: Homes and farms spread out.
Linear: Buildings along a road or river.
Bid-Rent Theory: Land closer to the city is more expensive, so it’s used differently.
🌱 Agricultural Revolutions
1st Agricultural Revolution: The start of farming and animal domestication.
Domestication: Taming plants and animals for human use.
Hearths of Agriculture: Original places farming began (e.g., Fertile Crescent, East Asia).
Hunter-Gatherers: Early humans who lived by hunting and gathering food.
🚜 2nd Agricultural Revolution
Crop Rotation: Changing crops yearly to keep soil healthy.
Enclosure Act: Fenced off land, making farms more efficient in England.
Mechanical Reaper and Seed Drill: Machines that made farming faster.
Selective Breeding: Choosing the best animals or plants to reproduce.
Columbian Exchange: Global trade of plants, animals, and diseases after 1492.
🌾 3rd Agricultural Revolution (Green Revolution)
Green Revolution: New seeds and chemicals boosted food production in developing countries.
Norman Borlaug: Scientist behind the Green Revolution.
Double-Cropping: Growing two crops a year on the same land.
Multicropping: Growing multiple crops on the same land at the same time.
High-Yield Seeds: Special seeds that grow more food.
Gene Revolution: Using science to improve food through genetics.
GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms): Crops changed in labs to grow better.
Terminator Seeds: GMO seeds that don’t reproduce—farmers must buy new ones.
Agro-Biotech: Using biology and tech to improve farming.
Organic Agriculture: Farming without chemicals or GMOs.
Sustainable Agriculture: Farming that protects the environment and can last long-term.
Precision Agriculture: Using tech (like GPS) to farm more efficiently.
💼 Commercial Agriculture & Agribusiness
Commercial Agriculture: Growing crops or raising animals to sell.
Agribusiness: Large companies controlling farming from seed to store.
Mediterranean Agriculture: Specialized farming in warm, coastal areas (e.g., olives, grapes).
Truck Farming / Market Gardening: Small farms selling fruits and veggies directly.
Specialty Crops: Unique crops with high value (e.g., vanilla, coffee).
Horticulture: Growing fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
Aquaculture: Farming fish and seafood.
Plantation Agriculture: Large farms growing one cash crop, often in tropical areas.
Cash Crops: Grown to be sold, not eaten locally (e.g., cotton, coffee).
Monocropping: Growing only one crop on a large scale.
Biodiversity: Variety of living things in an area.
🐮 Livestock and Dairy
Commercial Dairy and Livestock Farming: Raising cows and animals to sell products like milk and meat.
Milksheds: Area around a city where milk can be delivered fresh.
Ranching: Raising animals on large open land.
Dry-lot Dairies: Dairy farming without grazing; animals are fed in pens.
Factory Farms: Large, industrial farms with lots of animals in tight spaces.
Feedlots: Areas where animals are fattened before slaughter.
🌍 Problems & Changes in Agriculture
Commercial Grain Farming: Large-scale wheat or corn farming for sale.
Salinization: Salt buildup in soil from over-irrigation.
Desertification: Land becomes desert due to overuse or climate.
Deforestation: Cutting down forests for farming or development.
Supermarket Revolution: Growth of big stores that buy food from large farms.
Nutrition Transition / Dietary Shifts: People eating more processed foods as countries develop.
Biofuels: Fuels made from crops (like corn for ethanol).
Fair Trade: Farmers paid fairly and treated well.
Urban Agriculture: Growing food in or near cities.
Food Deserts: Places where people don’t have easy access to fresh food.
Food Insecurity: Not having enough food to stay healthy.
📊 Measuring Development
Human Development Index (HDI): Combines life expectancy, education, and income to measure development.
Gross National Income (GNI): Total income earned by a country’s people and businesses, including from abroad.
Purchasing Power Parity (PPP): Compares what people can buy with their money in different countries.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): Total value of goods and services made in a country in a year.
Per capita: Per person (e.g., GDP per capita = average income per person).
Gender Inequality Index (GII): Measures gender gaps in health, education, and political power.
Gender Development Index (GDI): Compares HDI for males and females.
🧑🏭 Economic Sectors
Primary: Jobs using natural resources (farming, fishing, mining).
Secondary: Making products (factories, construction).
Tertiary: Services (retail, teachers, doctors).
Quaternary: Knowledge-based jobs (research, IT).
Quinary: High-level decision-making (CEOs, government leaders).
🏭 Industry & Production
Industrial Revolution: Shift from handmade goods to machine-made in factories (started in 1700s England).
Cottage Industry: Goods made at home before factories.
Industrial Regions: Areas with lots of manufacturing (e.g., Rust Belt, Germany’s Ruhr).
Weber Model: Explains factory location based on minimizing costs (transport, labor).
Labor-Intensive Industry: Needs lots of workers (e.g., clothing).
Fordist Production: Assembly lines and mass production.
Post-Fordist Production: Flexible work and global outsourcing.
Bulk-reducing Industry: Lose weight during production, so factories are near raw materials (e.g., copper).
Bulk-gaining Industry: Gain weight, so factories are near markets (e.g., soda bottling).
Break of Bulk Point: Where cargo is switched between transportation types (e.g., port to truck).
Just-In-Time Delivery: Getting supplies right when needed to avoid storing them.
Maquiladoras: Factories in Mexico near the U.S. border.
🌎 Global Economic Powers
BRICS: Five major emerging economies—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa.
Vertical Integration: Company controls all steps of production.
Agglomeration: Similar businesses cluster together to benefit from shared services.
Outsourcing: Hiring another company to do part of your work.
Offshoring: Moving production to another country for cheaper costs.
Deindustrialization: When manufacturing jobs decline and shift to services.
🚀 Paths to Development
Self-sufficiency Path: Developing by focusing on local goods and limiting imports.
International Trade Path: Developing by selling products to other countries.
Rostow’s Model: 5 stages of development, from traditional farming to mass consumption.
Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory: Core (rich), semi-periphery (developing), periphery (poor)—global inequality.
Dependency Theory: Poor countries stay poor because they depend on rich countries.
World Trade Organization (WTO): Promotes free trade between countries.
The Four Dragons: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore—fast-growing economies.
Petroleum States: Countries that rely on oil (e.g., Saudi Arabia).
💵 Aid & Development Tools
Microfinance (Microloans): Small loans to help people start small businesses.
Sustainable Development Goals: UN goals to improve global well-being by 2030.
Fair Trade: Products made with fair wages and good conditions.
NAFTA: Trade agreement between U.S., Canada, and Mexico (now USMCA).
Neoliberalism: Belief in free markets and reduced government involvement.
Comparative Advantage: Countries should make what they’re best at and trade.
Multiplier Effects: Economic growth spreads when new jobs create more spending.
💼 Other Economic Terms
Informal Economy: Jobs not taxed or monitored (e.g., street vending).
Footloose Industries: Can locate anywhere; not tied to resources or markets (e.g., software).
Neocolonialism: Control of developing countries by powerful nations through economics.
Line-Haul Cost: Cost of moving goods over distance.
Ecotourism: Tourism that supports conservation and local people.
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI): When a company invests in a business in another country.
International Monetary Fund (IMF): Gives loans to countries in financial trouble.
World Bank: Provides money and help for development projects in poor countries.🏙 Urban Concepts & Hierarchies
Rank Size Rule: The 2nd biggest city is half the size of the biggest, the 3rd is 1/3, and so on.
Primate City: One huge dominant city in a country, way bigger than the rest (e.g., Paris, Bangkok).
Central City: The original city, often surrounded by suburbs.
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA): City + suburbs + nearby areas tied to it economically.
Central Business District (CBD): Downtown; where businesses and skyscrapers are located.
Megalopolis: Several large cities that have grown together (e.g., Boston to D.C.).
Urbanization: People moving to cities, cities growing.
Suburbanization: People moving from cities to suburbs.
Gravity Model: Predicts interaction between places based on size and distance.
🌍 Types of Cities
Megacity: City with over 10 million people.
Metacity: Super huge city, over 20 million people.
World Cities: Cities with global importance (e.g., New York, London, Tokyo).
Planned Capitals: Capital cities built on purpose (e.g., Brasília, Canberra).
🏘 Urban Planning & Growth
Urban Renewal: Fixing up run-down areas in a city.
Walkability: Easy to get around on foot (sidewalks, parks, shops close by).
Mixed-Use: Blending homes, businesses, and public spaces in one area.
Smart Growth: Planning cities to reduce sprawl and protect the environment.
New Urbanism: Designing neighborhoods to be walkable and community-focused.
Greenbelts: Areas of protected land around cities to limit sprawl.
Slow Growth: Managing city growth to avoid overdevelopment.
Farmland Protection: Laws and programs to stop farmland from being turned into cities.
Public Housing: Government-built housing for people with low income.
Public Transportation: Buses, trains, etc., to move lots of people.
Low order items (basic items)= newspaper
High order items (specialized items)= furniture
Low order functions (basic services)= corner shop/ Primary school
High order functions (specialized services)= university/ hospital
Settlements providing low order services = low order settlements (rural)
Settlements providing high order services= high order settlements (urban)
🚨 City Problems & Inequality
Urban Sprawl: Spread-out city growth with lots of driving and land use.
Slums/Favelas: Poor, crowded housing areas in cities (often informal or illegal).
Segregation: When groups (race, income) are separated in cities.
Redlining: Banks refused loans to minority neighborhoods.
Blockbusting: Scaring white families into selling homes cheap after minorities move in.
Disamenity Zone: Areas lacking basic services (like electricity or clean water).
Food Deserts: Areas without easy access to fresh, healthy food.
Zone of Abandonment: Run-down urban areas people have left.
Brownfields: Polluted former industrial sites.
Eminent Domain: Government takes private land for public use (often controversial).
White Flight: White people leaving cities for suburbs.
Gentrification: Wealthier people move into poor neighborhoods, raising rent and changing the area.
🗺 Urban Models
Burgess Concentric Zone Model: City grows in rings (CBD in the center, suburbs on the outside).
Bid-Rent Curve: Land closer to the CBD costs more.
Hoyt Model (Sector Model): City grows in pie-shaped sectors along transport routes.
Multiple Nuclei Model: City has multiple centers (like CBDs, industrial areas).
Galactic City Model: Suburbs with their own business areas (edge cities), connected by highways.
Latin American Model: Spine from CBD to wealthy areas, slums on the edges.
Southeast Asian Model: Port is the focus, with a mix of foreign businesses and housing.
African Model: 3 CBDs (colonial, traditional, market); squatter settlements on the edge.
🌆 Types of Suburban Development
Edge Cities: New city centers that develop on the outskirts.
Exurbs: Beyond the suburbs, more rural but people commute into the city.
Boomburbs: Fast-growing suburbs that feel like cities.
🛍 Urban Services (Central Place Theory)
Christaller’s Central Place Theory: Explains how cities and services are spaced out.
Threshold: Minimum number of people needed to support a service.
Range: How far people will travel to use a service.
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