human geography notes

Population Pyramids

- A special type of graph that shows the structure of a country's population

- Divided into age and gender

- Divided into male and female groupings of 5 years (i.e. 0-4 years, 5-9 years, etc.)

- Males (left) and females (right) are on the opposite sides of the x-axis

- Dependency Load – proportion of the population that is not in the workforce; people 14 and under and 65 and over

- Workforce – proportion of both males and females 15 to 64 years old

Why are they useful?

- Analyze past, present, and future structure of population

- Tool used by demographers to plan ahead

- Makes it easy to see the percentages of older and younger people

Types of pyramids

Expansive

- Big base

- Small proportion of elderly

- Fast growing population

Near Stationary

- Narrow base

- Similar numbers in each category

- Steady population

Constrictive

- Narrow base

- Large proportion of elderly

- Shrinking population

Population Patterns

Scattered

- an irregular pattern with few settlements and low population density. This pattern is common in remote regions.

Example: common in remote regions (top of manitoba)

Linear

- settlements that develop in a line along a river, railway, or major highway

Example: along a river (St Laurent River in Quebec)

Clustered

- Settlements that develop in clusters, with some distance separating the clusters.

This pattern is often associated with resource development, such as mining or logging

Example: British Columbia

Peripheral

- Settlements that develop around the edge of a landform, such as along an ocean coast or around the shores of a lake

Example: Newfoundland and labrador

Dispersed

- a fairly regular pattern of medium to high density. This pattern is common in flatter regions with good farmland

Example: Saskatchewan

Population Distribution: refers to where people live.

- Canada’s population is not evenly dispersed throughout the country.

- More than 90% of Canadians live in southern Canada within 600km of the U.S. border! - This represents 10% of Canada’s land mass

- Population Density: refers to the number of people who live in a certain area (i.e., how crowded a place is)

- Canada’s population density varies from province to province.

- Sometimes two different areas have the same density but different distribution.

URBAN LAND USE CLASSIFICATION

Urban Land use is classified into 6 major uses. Each municipality is zoned according to these.

- 1: Residential

- 2: Transportation

- 3: Institutional

- 4: Open and Green space

- 5: Industrial

- 6: Commercial

Residential

Broken into 3 categories:

Low Density Housing : Single detached houses

Medium Density Housing: Townhouses or attached houses, low story apartment buildings

High Density Housing: Apartment buildings and condos

TRANSPORTATION

Includes: Roads, airports, parking lots, public transportation, Railways

INSTITUTIONAL

Land that is occupied by public facilities, community, educational, governmental, health care and religious sites.

INDUSTRIAL

A type of land use for manufacturing and assembly plants as well as for processing, warehousing or storage

COMMERCIAL

Type of land use that includes any development for retail, service or office use

OPEN AND GREEN SPACE

A type of land use set aside for recreation and conservation efforts.

Examples: Parks, playing fields, forests, or undeveloped land

What does it mean to be zoned a certain way?

A zoning bylaw controls the use of land in your community. It states exactly: how land may be used. where buildings and other structures can be located. the types of buildings that are permitted and how they may be used.

Urban sprawl and green belt
Urban vs rural

- Urban: towns and cities of over 1000 people

(e.g., Toronto, Brampton)

- Rural: outside of towns and cities

(e.g., Caledon region)

URBAN SPRAWL

- when urban areas run out of space they must expand elsewhere....

- Urban Sprawl: the spread of urban communities into a surrounding area

WHY IS SPRAWL GOOD?

- more land to build houses, factories, commercial buildings

- city can continue to grow (more people move there = more support for businesses)

- increasing tax base (more people to pay taxes to the government)

WHY IS SPRAWL BAD?

- number one cause of destruction of natural spaces (forests cut down, less wildlife habitat, rivers become polluted/forced underground into tunnels, loss of farmland, beautiful hills made flat)

- more cars on the road = pollution and traffic congestion

- urban decay (downtown core becomes rundown)

Urbanisation

- In order for a rural area to become a city, it must go through these 4 stages.

- This is known as urbanization: a process by which so many people move into rural areas close to existing cities these areas become urban.

- Stage 1: Hamlet

- Stage 2: Village

- Stage 3: Town

- Stage 4: City

HAMLET

- Small rural settlement

- Small size (8 -10 buildings)

- Few goods/services (e.g., general store or gas station) = people rely on surrounding rural/urban areas for employment, goods, services

Example: Utica Ontario

VILLAGE

- Larger rural settlement

- 200 - 800 people

- Greater variety of goods and services (e.g., elementary school, mechanic, small restaurant) but people still rely on surrounding rural/urban areas for most employment, goods, services

TOWN

- Small urban settlement

- 1000 -10 000 people

- People survive off of the industry, business, and public services in the town

- Most of the goods and services that people need can be found in the town itself

City

- Larger urban settlement

- Greater than 10,000 people

- All of the goods and services that people need can be found within the city

- Can support pro sports teams, hospitals, colleges/universities

- People migrate into the city for work = city continues to grow

Example: Mississauga

CENSUS METROPOLITAN AREA

- sometimes urban areas grow so big that they “join together” to form a…

- Census Metropolitan Area (CMA): an urban area including all villages, towns, and smaller cities near a major urban centre, with no rural area between them (e.g., Greater Toronto Area or GTA)

What is the greenbelt?

- The Greenbelt is a permanently protected area of green space, farmland, forests, wetlands, and watersheds, located in Southern Ontario, Canada. It surrounds a significant portion of the Golden Horseshoe.

- Area: 8,094 km²

- Location: Southern Ontario, Canada

- Established: 2005