Unit 6 - AP Geo
6.1 - the origin and influence of urbanization
City → a relatively large, densely populated settlement with a much larger population than rural towns and villages; cities serve as important commercial, governmental, and cultural hubs for their surrounding regions
Urban → like a city, a place where many people live and most of the economy thrives
Urbanization → refers to the movement of people from rural areas to cities, and it is a major trend in the world today.
Permanent settlements → the earliest settlements were agricultural villages, formed when humans decided to stay in one place to farm. these settlements were located adjacent to resource nodes of fertile river valleys that flooded every year, enriching the soil for the productive crops. this, people could remain in place at the same place without having to move
Agricultural surplus → crop yields that are sufficient to feed more people than the farmer and his or her family
Socioeconomic stratification → the structuring of society into distinct socioeconomic classes, including leadership (for instance, a government or ruling class) that exercise control over goods and people
First Urban Revolution → the agricultural and socioeconomic innovations that led to the rise of the earliest cities
Urban Hearth Areas → regions in which the world’s first cities evolved
Site → an absolute location of a place on earth
Situation → the relative location of a place in reference to its surrounding features , or its regional position with reference to other places
what influenced urbanization → an agricultural surplus that resulted in population growth + the emergence of socioeconomic stratification
Major Urban Hearth Areas in The World → the first cities appeared in distinct regions, such as Mesopotamia (the area between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers in modern-day Iraq) and the Nile River valley. overtime, cities appeared in the Indus River valley, the Yellow River valley of China, Mesoamerica, the Andean highlands and costal areas of Peru, and West Africa
Capitalism → an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit rather than owned and run by the state
Communism → an economic and political system in which all property is publicly owned and managed
Streetcar Suburb → A settlement outside of a city with streetcar lines; the streetcars take residents into and out of the city easily
Second Urban Revolution → the industrial innovations in mining and manufacturing that led to increased urban growth
Redevelopment → A set of activities intended to revitalize an area that has fallen on hard times
6.2 cities across the world
Metropolis → a very large and densely populated city, particularly the capital or major city of a country or region
Urban Area → any self-governing place in the United States that contains at least 2500 people
Urbanized Area → In the United States, an urban area with 50,000 people or more
urban Cluster → In the United States, an urban area with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants
Metropolitan Statistical Area → In the united States, a region with at least one urbanized area as its core
Micropolitan Statistical Area → In the United States, a region with one or more urban clusters of at least 10,000 people as its cores
Suburb → a populated area on the outskirts of a city
Urbanization Rate → The percentage of a nation’s population living in towns and cities
Suburbanization → the movement of people from urban core areas to the surrounding outskirts of city
Sprawl → the tendency of cities to grow outward in an unchecked manner
Automobile Cities → cities whose size and shape are dictated by and almost require individual automobile ownership
Decentralize → In an urban context, to move business operations from core city areas into outlying areas such as suburbs
Edge City → A concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment that developed in the suburbs, outside of city’s traditional downtown or central business district
Boomburb (also called boomburg) → A place with more than 10,000 residents that is not a core city in a metropolitan area; a large suburb with its own government
Infill Development → the building of new retail, business, or residential spaces on vacant or underused parcels in already-developed areas
Exurb → A semirural district located beyond the suburbs that is often inhabited by well-to-do families
6.3 - Cities and Globalization
World City → a city that is control center of the global economy, in which major decisions are made about the world’s commercial networks and financial markets (also called global city)
Gated Community → privately governed and highly secure residential area within the bounds of a city; often has a fence or gate surrounding it
6.4 - The Size and Distribution of Cities
Urban System → a set of interdependent cities or urban places connected by networks
Urban Hierarchy → a ranking of cities, with the largest and most powerful cities at the top of the hierarchy
Rank-size rule → The population of a settlements is inversely proportional to its rank in the urban hierarchy
Primate City → A city that is much larger than any other city in the country and that dominates the country’s economic, political, and cultural life
Central Place Theory → A model, developed by Walter Christaller, that attempts to understand why cities are located where they are
Threshold → in central place theory, the number of people required to support businesses
Range → in central place theory, the distance people will travel to acquire a good
Gravity Model → the idea that the closer two places are, the more they will influence each other
6.5 - The Internal Structure of Cities
Concentric Zone Model → a model of a city’s internal organization developed by E.W. Burgess organized in five concentric rings that model the arrangement of different residential zones radiating outward from a central business district
Hoyt Model OR Sector Model → model of a city’s internal organization, developed by homer Hoyt, that focuses on transportation and communication as the drivers of the city’s layout