Development Studies Quiz

Week 1: Introduction and Key Concepts

• Environment & Society: the study of the complex relationship between people and their natural, built, and socioeconomic environments
• Geography: the study of patterns and processes on the Earth's surface, derived from Greek 'geo' (Earth) and 'graphe' (to write about).
• Two Branches of Geography:
  • Physical Geography: the study of patterns and processes of the natural world (landforms, climate, hydrology, geology, ecology, etc).
  • Human Geography: the study of patterns and processes of the human world (socio-economic and built environments, economies, cultures, politics, settlements and human interactions with the natural environment).
  • Spatial distribution (patterns) of people, their cultures, economies, settlements, political/social structures, and behaviour.

Week 2: Key Concepts Part 1

• Space: the areal extent of something.
  • Absolute Space: measurable and objective, with definite boundaries. E.g., city limits, McMaster Campus
  • Relative Space: subjective and perceptual, varying over time. E.g., an apartment feels cozy or cramped.
• Location: a particular position in space.
  • Absolute Location: defined using latitude and longitude.
  • Relative Location: subject to interpretation. E.g., "Location A is a short drive from Downtown"
• Place: a location that has acquired particular meaning or significance, both individually and collectively. E.g., childhood home, Church.

Week 2: Key Concepts Part 2

• Spatial Distribution: the spatial arrangement of geographic phenomena.
  • Density: The relationship between the number of phenomena and space; expressed as a ratio. E.g., people per sq km.
  • Concentration: the spread of phenomena over a given area (clustered, dispersed).
  • Pattern: the geometric or random spatial arrangement of phenomena in an area. E.g., linear (street grid).
• Diffusion: the process of geographic phenomena spreading over space and time.
• Types of Diffusion: Relocation (physical movement) and Expansion (additive).
• Spatial Interaction: relationships between locations; the extent of interaction related to distances and connections.

Week 3: Uneven Development

• Spatial Variations in terms of material well-being: the "haves" and "have nots".
• Spatial scales: global, regional, national etc.
• Variations exist in material well-being.
• Most people live in places between the extremes of unequal levels of development (levels 1-4).
• Uneven Development: the concept that the world is not equally developed economically; a continuum between more and less developed worlds.

Week 4: Uneven Development - World Hunger and Aid

• Spatial variations in global wealth and standard of living.
• Why does uneven development lead to food shortages?
• Current food crises and the role of governance in food security.
• Can we feed the world's population? The Green Revolution, and factors contributing to increasing food production (fertilizers, mechanization).
• Nutritional quality of life considerations: calorie requirements, undernutrition, malnutrition.

Week 5: Population and Migration

• Demography/Population Health Geography are the study of the spatial dimensions of populations
• Current/Global Population
• Distribution of populations (physical and human factors).
• Population distribution - factors. (climate, suitability to live in, topography, history of settlement).
• Population Density (arithmetic, physiological) - Measures of population size and concentration.
• Population Growth Rate/Doubling Time - calculation of population increase and factors influencing the doubling time.
• Consequences of Population Growth - Impacts on access to resources, health, and environment.

Week 6: Population Migration and Refugees

• Population Migration: the long-term or permanent relocation of an individual or group across a country, state/region, and internationally. Types of migration and causes (economic, political, environmental, social).
• Different spatial contexts of migration.
• Types of migration (voluntary/free, forced, impelled, illegal).
• International/Local migration
• Refugees: an individual forced to flee their home country due to persecution. (religious, ethnic, political & other dangers)
• Internally Displaced Person (IDP) - an individual who is displaced within their country.

Week 7: Population Health & Urban Living

• Medical Geography: the spatial context of disease and health.
• Health Geography: the spatial context of health and well-being (traditional and modern conceptions of 'health' considered)
• Demographic transition theory: changes in birth and death rates over time linked to economic development and their impacts on total population.
• Population Dynamics - Fertility, Mortality, and Migration (B-D)+(I-E).
• Influences factors on fertility and mortality.
• Distribution: the spatial arrangement of health or disease within an area (E.g., obesity in the U.S.)

Week 8: Urban Land Use

• Urban growth: an increase in the absolute measure of the size of an urban area.
• Urbanization: an increase in the percentage of the population living in urban areas.
• Urban Theory explained through examples of urban zones.
• Demographic criteria, and economic criteria used for identifying and classifying urban areas.
• Suburbanization: occurs when land on the periphery of an urban area becomes urbanized and develops.
• Land use in urban areas (residential, industrial, commercial etc.).
• Central places theory of urban organization and land use.
• Gentrification: occurs when existing urban-areas are subject to change due to an influx of wealthier/middle class populations causing change (positive/negative considerations).
• Filtering, and residential mobility
• Housing and Stratification: the division of urban populations based on socioeconomic variables.

Week 9: Urban Issues: Urban Stratification and Gentrification

• Urban Stratification: the division of urban populations based on socioeconomic variables.
• Gentrification: process where areas seen as historically deprived attract higher-income populations, causing social change.
• Cities as centres of production and consumption.

Week 10: Globalization

• Globalization: the increasing interconnectedness of people and places across the world as a result of numerous processes.
• The concept of globalization: commodity chain, through trade. Economic, political, cultural, and environmental considerations.
• Key dimensions of globalization.
• Processes through which the world is becoming a single world society.
• Production of goods and services throughout the world, using both natural and human resources (global village).
• World trade: the exchange of goods and services globally (e.g., Amazon, Alibaba).
• Key transformations of Global economic activity (reducing the friction of distance; breaking down barriers, corporations).

Week 11: Primary Economic Activities

• Primary activities: the identification and extraction of raw materials from the environment.
  • Agricultural (farming), fishing, forestry and mining.
• Economic Activities (Sectors) - Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary, and Quinary.
• Agriculture Systems - Traditional (Subsistence) & Commercial (Industrial).

Week 12: Secondary Economic Activities

• Manufacturing and Industry - manufacturing, processing, and construction activities (materials => products.)
• Traditional and Newly Industrializing Areas (NICs) - Manufacturing activity patterns and trends over time and space.
• The Industrial Revolution- processes of transformation and shifts in manufacturing activity.
• Global geography of manufacturing.
• Considerations in the Newly Industrializing World - aspects that contribute to industrial development in developing economies.

Week 13: Population Health and Urban Living

• Global Geography of service activities and levels of economic development
• The importance of examining the spatial patterns and processes of disease, health, and well-being in different parts of the world. (consider factors like access to healthcare, environmental conditions, economic stability)
• Measuring Global health - Epidemiology/Epidemiological transition, and population dynamics (fertility, mortality, and migration).
• The relationship between industrial and economic development, and population growth.
• Spatial variation in health and diseases and how it varies globally.

Week 14: The Emergence of Urban Living

• Urban areas are fundamental institutions, locations of innovation (social, economic, and political life).
• Urbanization/Deurbanization - growth and decline of cities and the proportion of population living in urban areas.
• How cities function and why do large urban/metropolitan areas emerge? (Factors - agricultural surplus theory)

Week 15: Urban Land Use

• Urban growth and Urbanization are increases in the absolute size of an urban area and the percentage of population inhabiting these urban areas.
• Processes, theories, and case studies that illustrate urban/rural population differences, including demographic variables.
• The urban land-use patterns, including residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional land structures, as well as public spaces (parks).

Week 16: Urban Structures & Land Use

• Classification/categorization of urban settlements (primate cities, megacities).
• Urban systems, hierarchical, and rank-size.
• The Central Place Theory- an explanation of the spatial organization of cities in an urban system.
• Global cities and their roles in the global economy.

Test your knowledge on the concepts of development, wealth measurement, and humanitarian aid. This quiz covers various aspects of global development, including the roles of organizations and the differences between refugees and internally displaced persons. Challenge yourself to understand the complexities of the less developed world and international assistance.