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Chapter 1 Vocabulary
Term | Definition |
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Borderlands | General term for a linear zone that parallels a political boundary. The most dynamic of these areas, are marked by significant cultural and economic interaction across the boundary that separates them. |
Transition zones | An area of spatial change where the peripheries of two bordering realms or regions join; marked by a gradual shift in the characteristics that distinguish these neighboring geographic entities. |
Physiographic region | A region in which there prevails natural-landscape homogeneity, expressed by a certain degree of uniformity in surface relief, climate, vegetation, and soils. |
Continentality | The variation of the continental effect on air temperatures in the interior portions of the world’s landmasses. The greater the distance from an Ocean, the more extreme the temps get. |
Rain shadow effect | The relative dryness in areas downwind of mountain ranges resulting from orographic precipitation, where moist air masses are forced to deposit most of their water content as they cross the highlands. |
Federation | A country adhering to a framework wherein a central gov represents the many entities in a nation-state where they have common interests, yet allows these various entities to Keep their ids, have their own laws, policies, and customs in certain spheres. |
Aquifer | An underground reservoir of water contained within a porous, water-bearing rock layer. |
Fossil fuel | The energy resources of coal, natural gas, and petroleum (oil), were formed by the geologic compression and transformation of tiny plant and animal organisms. |
Urban system | A hierarchical network or grouping of urban areas within a finite geographic area, such as a country. |
American Manufacturing Belt | North America’s near-rectangular core area, whose corners are Boston, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Baltimore. |
Distribution center | A centralized focus of economic activity specializing in the distribution of goods, situated at a major hub on its transportation network. Atlanta, with its highway, rail, and air-freight connections to the surrounding southeastern US, is an example. |
Intermodal connections | Facilities and activities related to the transfer of goods in transit from one transportation mode to another (e.g., the loading of containers from a ship directly onto a truck or railcar). |
Outer city | The non-central-city portion of the American metropolis; no longer “sub” to the “urb,” this outer ring was transformed into a full-fledged city during the late twentieth century. |
Deindustrialization | by which companies relocate manufacturing jobs to other regions with cheaper labor, leaving the region to convert to a service economy while struggling with the effects of increased unemployment and meeting the needs of its workforce. |
Central business district (CBD) | The downtown heart of a central city; marked by high land values, a concentration of business and commerce, and the clustering of the tallest buildings. |
Information economy | The new, dominant, postindustrial economy that is maturing in highly advanced countries in North America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. Traditional industry is being eclipsed by a higher-technology complex focused on information-related activities. |
GPS (Global Positioning System) | The orbiting-satellite-based navigation system that provides locational and time information, anywhere on or near the Earth’s surface where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites. |
Gentrification | The upgrading of an older residential area through private reinvestment in a central city. This involves the displacement of lower income residents, who can’t afford the heightened cost, and conflicts are common as such neighborhood change takes place. |
Neighborhood effect | The impact of one’s neighborhood on an individual’s outlook, aspirations, socialization, and life chances. |
Residential geography | The spatial distribution of a residential population. The term is used to describe the clustering of various social groups into the neighborhoods that form the residential fabric of cities and suburbs. |
Sunbelt | The popular name given to the southern tier of the United States, which is anchored by California, Texas, and Florida. Its warmer climate, Better opportunities, Etc. have been attracting large numbers of relocating people and activities since the 1960s |
Migration | A permanent change in residence. |
Electoral geography | The spatial distribution of political preferences as expressed in voting behavior for political parties and/or candidates. The mapping of election results is the foundation of electoral geography. |
Melting pot | Traditional characterization of American society as a blend of numerous immigrant ethnic groups that over time were assimilated into a single societal mainstream. |
First Nations | Name given Canada’s indigenous peoples of American descent, whose U.S. counterparts are called Native Americans. |
World City | A large city with particularly significant international (economic) linkages that also has a high ranking in the global urban system. Leading world-cities include London, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Paris. |
Technopole | A planned techno-industrial complex (such as California’s Silicon Valley) that innovates, promotes, and manufactures the products of the postindustrial information economy. |
Pacific Rim | A group of countries and components of countries (from New Zealand to Chile) that face the Pacific Ocean, exhibit high levels of economic development, industrialization, and urbanization, and their imports and exports mainly move across Pacific waters. |
Tar sands | The main source of oil from non-liquid petroleum reserves. The oil is mixed with sand and requires massive open-pit mining as well as a costly, complicated process to extract it. |
Boreal forest | The subarctic, mostly coniferous snowforest that blankets Canada south of the tundra that lines the Arctic shore; known as the taiga in Russia. |