Key terms Flashcards
What is Site in AP Human Geography?
The physical character of a place due to its location.
What is Situation in AP Human Geography?
The location of a place relative to other places.
What is Urbanization?
Movement of people from rural areas to cities.
What defines a Megacity?
Cities with more than 10 million people.
What are Metacities?
Cities with populations over 20 million; also called hypercities.
What are Semi-Periphery countries?
Those newly industrialized countries with median standards of living, such as Chile and Brazil.
What is Suburbanization?
The process of population movement from within towns and cities to the rural-urban fringe; post-WWII USA.
What is Urban Sprawl?
The process of urban areas expanding outwards, usually in the form of suburbs, and developing over fertile agricultural land.
What is Urban Decentralization?
Metropolitan areas sprawl in all directions and suburbs take on many of the characteristics of traditional downtowns.
What is an Edge City?
Cities located on the outskirts of larger cities that serve many of the same functions of urban areas, but in a sprawling, decentralized suburban environment.
What is an Exurb?
An area similar to a suburb, but unconnected to any central city or densely populated area.
What is a Boomburb?
A city with more than 100,000 residents located within a metropolitan area but that is not the central city and has maintained a double digit growth rate in recent years.
What is a World City?
Centers of economic, cultural, and political activity that are strongly interconnected and control the global systems of finance and commerce.
What is Urban Hierarchy?
A ranking of settlements (hamlet, village, town, city, metropolis) according to their size and economic functions.
What is Globalization?
Actions or processes that involve the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope.
What is the Rank-Size Rule?
A pattern of settlements in a country, such that the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.
What is a Primate City?
The largest settlement in a country, if it has more than twice as many people as the second ranking settlement.
What is the Gravity Model?
A mathematical formula that describes the level of interaction between two places, based on the size of their populations and their distance from each other.
What does Christaller’s Central Place Theory explain?
It explains and predicts patterns of urban places across the map based on central place functions.
What is Burgess’s Concentric Zone Theory?
A model that views cities as growing outward in concentric rings, made up of 5 zones.
What is the Hoyt Sector Model?
A model of the internal structure of a city in which social groups are arranged around sectors radiating out from the CBD.
What is the Harris-Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model?
A model explaining the changing growth pattern of urban spaces based on several major foci.
What is the Galactic City Model?
A mini edge city connected to another city by beltways or highways, representing a post-industrial city.
What is Bid Rent Theory?
The geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the CBD increases.
What is the Latin American City Model?
A model blending traditional Latin American culture with globalization, featuring a dominant CBD.
What is the Southeast Asian City Model?
A model where the focal point is the colonial port zone combined with a large commercial district.
What is the African City Model?
A model suggesting cities have more than one CBD, reflecting remnants of colonialism.
What is Infilling?
New development placed on vacant or undeveloped land within an existing community.
What is Infrastructure?
The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society.
What is Sustainable Design?
An environmental responsibility considering the protection of global ecosystems for current and future generations.
What is Mixed Land Use?
More than one type of zoning, such as a condominium that has residential and commercial units.
What is Urban Walkability?
A measure of how friendly an area is to walking, catering to urbanites seeking walkable neighborhoods.
What is Transportation (Transit)-Oriented Development?
Development focusing on dense residential and retail development around public transportation stops.
What are Smart-Growth Policies?
Urban planning that avoids sprawl and focuses on sustainable design initiatives.
What is New Urbanism?
A movement promoting mixed-use commercial and residential development and pedestrian-friendly cities.
What is De Facto Segregation?
Segregation occurring as a result of economic, social conditions, or personal choice.
What is Qualitative Data?
Research based on observation that does not include numerical data.
What is Quantitative Data?
Numerical data systematically acquired and recorded.
What is Census Data?
Information about the members of a given population.
What is Survey Data?
Data produced by recording respondents’ answers to questions.
What is a Field Study?
A scientific study that takes place in a natural setting.
What is Field Narrative?
Conducting field study by looking at journals, photos, or narratives of other individuals.
What is Housing Discrimination?
The illegal practice of denying an individual or group the right to buy or rent a home based on various factors.
What is Redlining?
A process by which banks refuse to lend money to purchase or improve property within certain boundaries.
What is Blockbusting?
A process by which real estate agents convince white property owners to sell their houses at low prices due to fear of racial change.
What is Housing Affordability?
A measure of how easy it is for people to buy their own house based on various economic factors.
What is Environmental Injustice?
The unequal distribution of environmental hazards based on racial or socioeconomic status.
What are Disamenity Zones?
The very poorest parts of cities that may not be connected to regular city services.
What are Zones of Abandonment?
Areas with lack of jobs, declining land values, and falling demand causing people to leave.
What are Squatter Settlements?
Residential developments characterized by extreme poverty on land neither owned nor rented by occupants.
What is the Local Food Movement?
Purchasing food from nearby farms to minimize transportation pollution.
What is Urban Renewal?
A program in which cities identify blighted neighborhoods, acquire properties, and redevelop the area.
What is a Food Desert?
An area in a developed country where healthy food is difficult to obtain.
What is Urban Sustainability?
The goal of improving social and economic conditions while maintaining environmental quality.
What is Gentrification?
A process of converting an urban neighborhood from low-income to middle-class owner-occupied.
What is Ecological Footprint?
The impact of a person or community on the environment, expressed as the land required to sustain their resource use.
What is Remediation?
Containment, treatment, or removal of contaminated groundwater or soil.
What is Redevelopment?
The renovation and improvement of areas that were previously run down.
What are Brownfields?
Abandoned polluted industrial sites in central cities being cleaned and redeveloped.
What is an Urban Growth Boundary?
A line used by city planners to separate urban areas from rural areas.
What are Farmland Protection Policies?
Policies protecting farmland and preventing it from being sold for other uses.
