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Chapter 9
AP Human Geo
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| City | A large settlement of people with an extensive built environment that functions as a center of politics, culture, and economics |
| Mesopotamia | Region in southwest Asia where the first urban revolution occurred around 2200 BCE |
| Nile River Valley | Region along the Nile River in North Africa where the first urban revolution occurred 3200 BCE |
| Indus River Valley | Region in South Asia where the first urban revolution occurred around 2200 BCE |
| Huang He and Wei Valleys | Region in China where the first urban revolution occurred around 1500 BCE |
| Mesoamerica | Region in central America where the first urban revolution occurred around 200 BCE |
| Urban morphology | The layout of a city, including the sizes and shapes of buildings and the pathways of infrastructure |
| Functional zonation | Division of a city into different regions by use or purpose |
| Site | Physical attributes of the location of a human settlement |
| Situation | The position of a city or place relative to its surrounding environment or context |
| Acropolis | The upper, fortified part of an ancient Greek city; commonly a religious site |
| Rank-size rule | Observed statistical relationship that the population of a city will be inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy |
| Primate city | The lead city in a country in terms of size and influence |
| Central Place theory | Walter Christaller’s theory that the size and locations of cities, towns, and villages are logically and regularly distributed |
| Hinterland | An area of economic production that is located inland and is connected to the world by a port |
| Central Business District (CBD) | The zone of a city where businesses cluster and around which a city and its infrastructure are typically built |
| Central City | Urban area that is not suburban. Generally, the older or original city that is surrounded by suburbs |
| Suburb | A built-up residential and shopping district connected to a central city by major transportation routes |
| Suburbanization | Transformation of farmland and small towns outside of an urban area into suburbs |
| Concentric Zone Model (Burgess) | Urban model that explains the distribution of social groups around a central business district (CBD) using 5 concentric zones with the newest built on the outskirts. Created by Ernest Burgess in 1925 based on Chicago, United States |
| Sector Model (Hoyt) | A structural model of the American city centered on a central business district with distinct areas of manufacturing and residences extending in wedge-shaped zones from the CBD (like pieces of pie) |
| Multiple Nuclei Model (Harris and Ullman) | Layout of American cities, including a central business district (CBD) and suburban business districts that each serve as nuclei around which businesses and residences cluster |
| Edge cities | Large urban areas on the outskirts of major cities, typically found on major roads. Edge cities are characterized by extensive space for offices and retail, and few residential areas |
| Galactic City Model | modern city in which the old downtown plays the role of a festival or recreational area, and widely dispersed industrial parks, shopping centers, high-tech industrial spaces, and industrial suburbs are the new centers of economic activity |
| Latin American City Model (Griffin-Ford/New Ford) | Model of Latin American cities showing central plazas and wide streets commonly designed by Spanish colonizers. Designed to help see the layers of history built in cities in Latin America |
| Disamenity sector | Residential zone where lowest income residents in the city live, especially in the Latin American city model. Often built on unstable or undesirable land |
| African City Model (DeBlij) | Model of African cities showing how colonial cities were often built around African cities. The central city has three CBDs: traditional, informal, and colonial. Designed to help see the layers of history in cities in Africa |
| Southeast Asia City Model (McGhee) | Model of Southeast Asian cities showing a city with an old colonial port zone surrounded by a large commercial district and no formal CBD. Designed to help see the layers of history built in cities in Southeast Asia |
| Zoning laws | Legal restrictions on land use that determine what types of building and economic activities are allowed |
| Redlining | Discriminatory real estate practice that prevents minorities from getting loans to purchase homes or property in predominantly white neighborhoods |
| Blockbusting | Rapidly changing racial or class composition of a neighborhood that occurs when real estate agents persuade residents to sell homes because of fear that another race or class of people is moving into the neighborhood. |
| White flight | Movement of whites from the city and adjacent neighborhoods to outlying suburbs in response to a growth in the number of residents who are a different race. Common in U.S. cities in response to blockbusting |
| Gentrification | Renewal or rebuilding of a lower income neighborhood into a middle- to upper-class neighborhood, which results in driving up property values and rents and the dispossession of lower income residents |
| Teardowns | Homes bought in suburbs with the intent of tearing them down and replacing them with much larger homes, often referred to as McMansions |
| McMansions | Large homes often built in place of tear-downs in American suburbs |
| Urban sprawl | the expansion of low density urban areas around a city |
| New Urbanism | a modern approach to planning and developing cities and communities that values walkability, attracting diverse incomes, and access to public spaces |
| Gated communities | residential neighborhoods where access is controlled in order to define exclusive space and deter movement of people and traffic through the neighborhood |
| First Urban Revolution | The transformation of societies from agriculture villages to permanently settled cities, which occurred independently in five separate hearths |
| Urban Geopolitics | How cities shape and are shaped by geopolitical processes at national, regional and global scales |
| Megacity | A large city with more than 10 million people |
| Hutment factories | Manufacturing conducted in slums, typically relying on intensive hand labor and low-cost machines |
| Informal economy | Portion of the economy that is not taxed or regulated by government. Goods and services are exchanged based on barter or cash systems, and earnings are not reported to government |