Types of Maps

Reference Maps

• Show absolute locations of places and geographic features.
• Locations are determined by a frame of reference, such as latitude and longitude.
• Used to show landforms and places.

Physical Maps

• Reference maps show identifiable natural landmarks.
• Examples include mountains, rivers, oceans, and elevation.

Political Maps

• Reference maps show political boundaries.
• Examples include countries, cities, and capitals.

Thematic Maps

• Display specific types of information (theme) pertaining to an area.

Cartogram Maps

• Thematic maps show statistical data by transforming (distorting) space.
• An example use case is population representation.

Choropleth Maps

• Thematic maps use tones or colors to represent statistical data.

Dot Density Maps

• Thematic maps use dots to indicate a feature or occurrence.
• An example feature to represent with dots is population.

Graduated Symbols Map (Proportional Symbols Map)

• Thematic maps indicate the relative magnitude of a value for a geographic region.
• Symbols vary in proportion to the data.

Absolute Distance

• Measurement uses a standard unit of length.
• Examples include miles and kilometers.

Relative Distance

• Measured in terms such as cost or time, which are more meaningful for the space relationship in question.
• It's the measurement of social, cultural, and/or economic connectivity between places.
• It measures how connected or disconnected places are.
• Example: Comparison of USA and Iran vs. USA and China.

Absolute Direction

• Finding a location using compass direction.
• Examples include north, south, east, and west.

Relative Direction

• Finding a location without using compass direction.
• Examples include left, right, forward, backward, up, and down.

Spatial Pattern

• A pattern that arranges points by location.
• It's the way things are laid out and organized on the surface of the Earth.

Clustering

• Objects that form a group are an example of a spatial pattern.
• An example would be a coastal population.

Dispersal

• Objects that are scattered are an example of a spatial pattern.
• An example would be a rural population.

Elevation

• Height above sea level is an example of a spatial pattern.

Spatial Scale

• Hierarchy of spaces.
• Example: Location of French speakers.
• Global: in the world
• Regional: in North America
• National: in Canada
• Local: in Quebec

Map Distortion

• All maps are distorted as a result of projecting a 3-dimensional surface onto a 2-dimensional surface.
• Distortion can occur in area, distance, shape, and/or direction.

Census Data

• Systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population.

US Census

• The enumeration of the population of the United States that is conducted every 10 years.

Satellite Imagery

• Images of the earth taken from orbiting satellites.
• Images can be taken in a variety of ways in order to detect specific information about the earth, vegetation and other types of land cover.

Supranational Organization

• A venture involving three or more nation-states.
• It involves formal political, economic, and/or cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives.
• The European Union is one such organization.

Photographic Interpretation

• The act of examining photographic images for the purpose of identifying objects and judging their significance.

Landscape Analysis

• The task of defining and describing landscapes.

Personal Interview

• A survey in which the questions are asked face-to-face.

Policy Documents

• Communicate policies and procedures.
• A government's initiative or plan.

Travel Narrative

• Writings that describe either the author's journey to a place, or writings which discuss the customs, habits and wildlife of a place.

Media Reports

• Articles published by newspapers or magazines.

Field Observations

• On-site observations conducted in the field, not in a lab.

GIS (Geographic Information System)

• A computer system that stores, organizes, analyzes, and displays geographic data.

Satellite Navigation System

• A portable device that uses GPS to plot the user's position.

GPS (Global Positioning System)

• A system that determines the precise position of something on Earth through a series of satellites, tracking stations, and receivers.

Remote Sensing

• The acquisition of data about Earth's surface from a satellite orbiting the planet or using other long-distance methods.

U.S. Census Bureau

• A principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System.
• It is responsible for producing data about the American people and economy.

Absolute Location

• The exact position of an object or place, measured within spatial coordinates or a grid system.

Relative Location

• The position of a place in relation to another place.

Place

• A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.

Distance Decay

• The effects of distance on interaction.
• Generally, the greater the distance, the less interaction.

Pattern

• The geometric arrangement of objects in space.

Density

• Number of things in a space.

Time-Space Compression

• The rapid innovation of communication and transportation technologies associated with globalization that reduced the friction of distance.

Friction of Distance

• The increase in time and cost that usually comes with increasing distance.

Sense of Place

• Feelings evoked by people as a result of certain experiences and memories associated with a particular place.

Sustainability

• Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Natural Resources

• Materials or substances such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain.

Land Use

• Various ways humans use the land such as agricultural, industrial, residential, or recreational.

Environmental Determinism

• The study of how the physical environment predisposes societies and states toward particular development trajectories.

Possibilism

• The theory that the physical environment may set limits on human actions, but people have the ability to adjust to the physical environment and choose a course of action from many alternatives.

Scale

• The relationship between the portion of Earth being studied and Earth as a whole.

Physical Factors

• Climate, landforms, and water bodies.

Human Factors

• Culture, economics, history, and politics.

Arithmetic Density

• The total number of people divided by the total land area.

Physiological Density

• The number of people per unit of area of arable land.

Agricultural Density

• The ratio of the number of farmers to the amount of arable land.

Carrying Capacity

• Largest number of individuals of a population that an environment can support.

Population Distribution

• How population is spread out in an area.

Population Density

• A measurement of the number of people per given unit of land.

Sex Ratio

• The number of males per 100 females in the population.

Crude Birth Rate (CBR)

• The total number of live births in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

Crude Death Rate (CDR)

• The total number of deaths in a year for every 1,000 people alive in the society.

Child Mortality Rate (CMR)

• Number of deaths of children from the age of 1 to 5 per 1,000 live births in that year.

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)

• The total number of deaths in a year among infants under 1 year old for every 1,000 live births in a society.

Life Expectancy at Birth (LEB)

• The average number of years a newborn baby could expect to live if current mortality trends were to continue for the rest of the newborn's life.

Dependency Ratio

• The number of people under age 15 and over age 64 compared to the number of people active in the labor force.

Total Fertility Rate (TFR)

• The average number of children a woman will have throughout her childbearing years.

Natural Increase

• The growth rate of a population; the difference between birthrate and death rate.
• It does not include migration.

Population Pyramid

• A bar graph representing the distribution of population by age and sex.

Youth Dependency Ratio

• The ratio of the number of people aged 0-15 to those aged 15-64 years.

Elderly Dependency Ratio

• The ratio of the number of people aged 65 and over to those aged 15-64 years.

Economically Active

• People between the ages of 16 and 65.
• These people are normally working and pay taxes.

Replacement Level

• The fertility rate necessary for a population to replace itself (2.1).

Subsistence Agriculture

• Self-sufficient agriculture that is small-scale and low technology.
• It emphasizes food production for local consumption, not for trade.

Maternal Mortality

• Number of women who die due to pregnancy and childbirth complications.

Rate of Natural Increase (RNI)

• The difference in births and deaths in a population, usually expressed as a percentage.
• Does not include migration.

Population Doubling Time

• The number of years it takes a population to double; calculated by dividing the number 70 by the rate of natural increase.

Total Population

• Includes CBR-CDR + immigrants - emigrants.

Baby Boom

• The larger than expected generation in the United States born shortly after World War II.

Remittances

• Transfers of money/goods by foreign workers to their home countries.

Net Migration

• The difference between the number of immigrants and the number of emigrants.

Forced Migration

• Human migration flows in which the movers have no choice but to relocate.

Voluntary Migration

• Movement in which people relocate in response to perceived opportunity; not forced.

Transnational Migration

• A process of movement and settlement of people across international borders.
• Individuals maintain or build multiple networks of connection to their country of origin while at the same time settling in a new country.

Internal Migration

• Movement of people within a particular country.

Friction of Distance

• The increase in time, effort, and cost that usually comes with increasing distance.

Transhumance

• A seasonal periodic movement of pastoralists and their livestock between highland and lowland pastures.

Chain Migration

• Migration of people to a specific location because relatives or members of the same nationality previously migrated there.

Step Migration

• Migration to a distant destination that occurs in stages, for example, from farm to nearby village and later to a town and city.

Intervening Obstacle

• An environmental or cultural feature of the landscape that hinders migration.

Intervening Opportunity

• The presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away.

Guest Workers

• Workers who migrate to the more developed countries of Northern and Western Europe, usually from Southern or Eastern Europe or from North Africa, in search of higher-paying jobs.
• They are legal and usually have a short-term work visa.

Circular Migration

• The temporary movement of a migrant worker between origin and destination to seek employment.

Refugee

• A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.

Asylum Seeker

• Someone who has migrated to another country in the hope of being recognized as a refugee.

Internally Displaced Person (IDP)

• Someone who has been forced to migrate for similar political reasons as a refugee but has not migrated across an international border.

Human Trafficking

• The illegal trade of human beings, a modern-day form of slavery, for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or involuntary military combat.

Immigration

• Movement of individuals into a new location.

Emigration

• Movement of individuals out of an area.

Push Factors

• Incentives for potential migrants to leave a place, such as a harsh climate, economic recession, or political turmoil.

Pull Factors

• Positive conditions and perceptions that effectively attract people to a new location.

Gravity Model of Migration

• Large communities have a greater pull and attract more migrants.

Ravenstein's Laws of Migration

• A set of 11 "laws" that can be organized into three groups: the reasons why migrants move, the distance they typically move, and their characteristics.

Rustbelt to Sunbelt

• Internal migration (USA) from northern industrial cities to southern and western locales (1980s to present).
• Examples: Pennsylvania, Michigan to Texas and California (Florida).

Deindustrialization

• The cumulative and sustained decline in the contribution of manufacturing to a national economy.

Cultural Trait

• A single element of normal practice in a culture, such as the wearing of a turban.

Culture

• The enduring behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, and traditions shared by a group of people and transmitted from one generation to the next.

Place

• A specific point on Earth distinguished by a particular character.

Place Making

• The way people lay claim to, take ownership of, or otherwise personalize a portion of space.

Sense of Place

• Feelings evoked by people as a result of certain experiences and memories associated with a particular place.

Artifact

• An object made by a human being, typically an item of cultural or historical interest.
• Visible, physical objects created by a culture.

Sociofact

• The ways in which people organize society (institutions) and relate to one another (behave).
• Examples: Family structures, School/Education, Government, Religion, Laws, Gender Roles

Mentifact

• The ideas, beliefs, values and knowledge of a culture.
• Examples: Religious Beliefs, Language, Food Preferences & Taboos, What you think and believe

Popular Culture

• Cultural patterns that are widespread among a society's population.
• Quick to change as time-space compression helps their spread.

Traditional Culture

• Tends to be more rural culture.
• Slower to change, and found among isolated groups.

Cultural Norms

• Agreed-upon cultural practices or standards that guide the behavior of a culture.

Cultural Taboos

• Activities or behaviors that are avoided or prohibited by a particular cultural group.

Ethnocentrism

• Evaluation of other cultures according to preconceptions originating in the standards and customs of one's own culture.

Cultural Relativism

• Not judging a culture but trying to understand it on its own terms.

Cultural Landscape

• The visible imprint of human activity and culture on the landscape.
• Reflects values, beliefs, and practices of the culture.

Sense of Place

• The feeling that an area has a distinct and meaningful character.

Centripetal Force

• An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a group.

Centrifugal Force

• A force that divides people and countries.

Cultural Realms of the Western Hemisphere

• Anglo and Latin America.

Shia and Sunni

• Two main branches of Islam.

Lingua Franca

• A language mutually understood and commonly used in trade by people who have different native languages.

Relocation Diffusion

• The spread of a feature or trend through bodily movement of people from one place to another.

Hierarchical Diffusion

• The spread of an idea from persons or nodes of authority or power to other persons or places.

Expansion Diffusion

• The spread of a feature or trend among people from one area to another in a snowballing process.

Stimulus Diffusion

• A form of diffusion in which a cultural adaptation is created as a result of the introduction of a cultural trait from another place.

Adherents

• Believers, followers (often of a religion).

Denomination

• A division of a branch of a religion that unites a number of congregations in a single legal and administrative body.

Catholicism/Protestantism/Orthodoxy

• Three main branches of Christianity.

Sect

• A relatively small group that has separated from an established denomination.
• Their beliefs are not widely accepted.

Acculturation

• People within one culture adopt some traits from the other culture.

Assimilation

• One culture abandons its original culture.
• Adopts another culture (indistinguishable).
• Sometimes voluntary, other times forced.

Syncretism

• Two culture's traits blend together, creating a new cultural trait.
• Occurs through contact (imperialism, military conquest, immigration or intermarriage).

Religious Syncretism

• The blending of features of two or more religions into a new style of religion.
• Example: Santeria in Cuba (African religion + Catholicism).

Multiculturalism

• Acceptance and tolerance of different cultures which exist in close proximity to one another.

Cultural Appropriation

• Inappropriate adoption of an element or elements of one culture or identity by members of another culture or identity.

Cultural Convergence

• The tendency for cultures to become more alike as they increasingly share technology and organizational structures in a modern world united by improved transportation and communication.

Cultural Divergence

• The likelihood or tendency for cultures to become increasingly dissimilar.

Barriers to Diffusion

• Cultural or political (taboo).
• Language barriers.
• Physical barriers.

Creole Language

• A language that began as a pidgin language but was later adopted as the mother tongue by a people in a place of the mother tongue.

Pidgin Language

• When parts of two or more languages are combined in a simplified structure and vocabulary.

Language Family

• A collection of languages related to each other through a common ancestor long before recorded history.

Language Branch

• A collection of languages within a family related through a common ancestral language that existed several thousand years ago.

Language Group

• A collection of languages within a branch that share a common origin in the relatively recent past and display relatively few differences in grammar and vocabulary.

Ethnonationalism

• The identification and loyalty a person may feel for his or her nation.
• A form of nationalism in which the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity.

Pilgrimage

• A journey to a place considered sacred for religious purposes.

Proselytize

• Spread of religion to persuade or convert to a religion.

Nation

• A group of people with a common identity through shared cultural traits such as language, religion, ethnicity, and heritage.

Nation-State

• When the borders of the nation (people) match the borders of the state.
• A state with (ideally) only one nation within it.

Stateless Nation

• Nations of people without a state to occupy.

Multinational State

• A state with various ethnicities and cultures within its borders.
• Examples: The United States, Russia, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq.

Multistate Nation

• A nation of people that live in more than one state.

Autonomous or Semi-Autonomous

• A location inside a state that is given authority to govern independently from the national government.

American Indian Reservations

• Area of land managed by Native Americans.
• They are semi-autonomous.

State

• A defined territory with borders, a permanent population, a government, and sovereignty.

Sovereignty

• The right of a government to control and defend territory and recognition from other states.

Self-Determination

• The right of all people to govern themselves.
• Usually a nation, ethnicity, or former colony wants to govern themselves and establish sovereignty over their own state.
• Oftentimes may result in independence movements or devolution.

Devolution

• Due to centrifugal forces, power is shifted from the central government or administration to regional authorities which are usually reflective of nations (groups of people with shared identity).

Berlin Act of 1885

• An agreement where 14 European nations (with no African Representation) gathered to set rules to divide the continent.

Treaty of Versailles

• Ended WWI, redrew boundaries in Europe and Southwest Asia.
• The German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman Empires were broken up into individual states leading to nation-states.
• This worked in some places and resulted in further divisions in others (specifically the Middle East).

Territoriality

• In political geography, a country's or more local community's sense of property and attachment toward its territory.
• Expressed by its determination to keep it defended.

Neocolonialism

• The use of economic, political, cultural, or other pressures in order to control or influence other countries.
• Also called economic imperialism, often by foreign business interests that causes colonial-style economies to continue.
• It often caused monoculture (a country only producing one main export like sugar, oil, etc).

Shatterbelts

• Instability within a region that is geographically located between states with overlapping territoriality and political power.
• Examples: Germany during the Cold War, and Balkan Peninsula (Former Yugoslavia).

Choke Points

• A strategic strait or canal which is narrow, hard to pass through and has competition for use.
• Example: Strait of Hormuz.
• It is a narrow body of water that connects the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, also considered as a choke point for oil.

49th Parallel

• The Oregon Treaty of 1846 established a U.S./Canadian (British) border that extends from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.

Subsequent Border

• Borders that are drawn in areas that have been settled by people, typically due to changes that have occurred over time.
• (Example: Europe)

Antecedent Border

• A political boundary that existed before the cultural landscape emerged and stayed in place while people moved into occupy the surroundings.
• (Example: 49th parallel).

Consequent Border

• Takes into account the existing cultural distribution of the people living in the territory and redevelops boundary lines to more closely align with cultural boundaries.
• (Example: Nunavut and the rest of Canada - drawn in 1999).

Superimposed Boundary

• Border that is drawn over existing and accepted borders by an outside force.
• Example: The Berlin Conference imposed arbitrary boundaries throughout the continent of Africa.

Geometric Boundary

• Borders that are established on straight lines of latitude and longitude instead of physical or cultural boundaries.

Relic Border

• Border that no longer exists but has left some imprint on the local cultural or environmental geography.
• (Example: East Germany and West Germany).

Defining Borders

• Borders are agreed upon in a written treaty.

Delineating Borders

• Borders are drawn on a map.

Demarcating Borders

• Borders are physically marked in real life (sign, wall...).

Administering Borders

• Borders are managed: Could be restrictions on how things or people move across them.

UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea)

• A code of maritime law approved by the UN.
• Establishes territorial waters extending 12 nautical miles from shore and 200 nautical mile wide exclusive economic zones.

Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)

• As established in the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, a coastal state has exclusive mineral and fishing rights over a zone of exploitation extending 200 nautical miles seaward.

Unitary State

• An internal organization of a state that places most power in the hands of central government officials.

Federal State

• An internal organization of a state that allocates strong power to units of local government.

Centralized Power

• Power in the hands of a few (central government).

Decentralized Power

• An organization structure in which decision-making authority is delegated to lower-level managers more familiar with local conditions than headquarters management could be.

Census

• The official count of a population.
• Completed every ten years in the U.S.

Reapportionment

• The process of reassigning representation based on population after every census.

Congressional District

• The geographic area that is served by one member in the House of Representatives.

U.S. Representative

• A member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Representatives are elected in congressional districts throughout each state.
• The number of representatives is dependent on the population of each state.

US Senate

• Each state has two, no matter what the population size of the state is.
• The upper house of the U.S. Congress.

Redistricting

• The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census to accommodate population shifts and keep districts as equal as possible in population.

Gerrymandering

• Process of redrawing legislative boundaries for the purpose of benefiting the party in power.

Packing

• Concentrating partisan voters in a single district in order to maximize the number of representatives that can be elected by the opposition in other districts.

Cracking

• Spreading voters of one type over many districts where they will comprise minorities that are unable to influence elections.

Centripetal Force

• An attitude that tends to unify people and enhance support for a state (language, shared history, religion, culture).

Centrifugal Force

• A force that divides people and countries.

Devolution

• The transfer of powers and responsibilities from the federal government to the states.

Autonomy

• Self-government, political control.

Balkanization

• Process by which a state breaks down through conflicts among its ethnicities (Former Yugoslavia in the Balkans).

Ethnic Separatism

• When an ethnic group desires to separate from the larger group (often wanting to break away from a state).

Ethnic Cleansing

• Process in which a more powerful ethnic group forcibly removes a less powerful one in order to create an ethnically homogeneous region.

Irredentism

• The policy of a state wishing to take control of a territory inhabited by people who have ethnic or linguistic links with the country but that lies within a neighboring state.

Supranational Organization

• A venture involving three or more nation-states involving formal political, economic, and/or cultural cooperation to promote shared objectives.
• The European Union is one such organization.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)

• A 1949 defense alliance initiated by the US, Canada, and 10 Western European nations.
• Formed to counter Soviet expansion.

United Nations (UN)

• An institution dedicated to promoting dialogue among countries with the goal of maintaining world peace.
• Formed after WWII.

ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations)

• Trading bloc of 10 countries in Southeast Asia.

European Union (EU)

• The world's largest common market, composed of 28 European nations.

OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries)

• An organization of countries formed in 1961 to agree on a common policy for the production and sale of petroleum.

Arctic Council

• A means for promoting cooperation, coordination, and interaction among the Arctic States.

African Union

• Organization formed in 2002 to promote unity among African states and to foster development and end poverty.

Environmental Sustainability

• Developing practices that create a world economy that the planet can support indefinitely.

Economies of Scale

• When a producer's average cost per unit to falls as output rises.

Collective Defense

• The concept that allied nations agree to defend one another in the face of an invasion.

Humid Temperate Climates

• Have cool winters, warm summers, and ample rainfall.

Mediterranean Climate

• A climate marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters.

Tropical Climate

• A type of climate found in the areas just north or south of the equator.
• Weather is usually hot with ample rainfall.

Subsistence Farming

• Farming that provides for the basic needs of the farmer without much surplus.

Commercial Farming

• The raising of crops and livestock for sale in markets.

Metes and Bounds

• A method of land description which involves identifying distances and directions
• Makes use of both the physical boundaries and measurements of the land.

Longlots

• Land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, and canals.
• Mainly used by French and Spanish settlers.

Township and Range

• A rigid grid-like pattern used to facilitate the dispersal of settlers evenly across farmlands.
• Common in the U.S. West and Midwest.

Domestication

• The process of changing plants or animals to make them more useful to humans.

Agricultural Hearths

• Places where agriculture first developed and originated.

Fertile Crescent

• A geographical area of fertile land in the Middle East, from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates.

Columbian Exchange

• The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

1st Agricultural Revolution

• Dating back 10,000 years and achieved plant and animal domestication

2nd Agricultural Revolution

• It started in Britain and improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce just before the industrial revolution (1700s).
• Examples: cotton gin, seed drill, 4 crop rotation, enclosure acts

Green Revolution

• Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides

Enclosure Acts

• A series of laws enacted by the British government that enabled landowners to purchase and enclose land for their own use that had previously been common land used by peasant farmers.

Four Crop Rotation

• An agricultural technique that involves rotating four different crops through a field to prevent soil depletion.
• Example: turnips and clover!

Fodder

• Food for horses or cattle.

High Yield Varieties (HYVs)

• Genetically engineered staple crops whose productivity per hectare is higher than other crops.
• Can have several harvests a year.

GMOs

• Crops that carry new traits that have been inserted through advanced genetic engineering methods.

Norman Borlaug

• Founder of Green Revolution.
• Increased wheat and maize yield worldwide in 1970.
• Received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Double Cropping

• Harvesting twice a year from the same field.

Natural Fertilizer

• Plant nutrients that have been obtained from natural sources and have not been chemically altered by humans.

Organic Fertilizer

• Fertilizer composed of organic matter from plants and animals.

Salinization

• Accumulation of salts in soil that can eventually make the soil unable to support plant growth.

Economies of Scale

• A proportionate saving in costs gained by an increased level of production.

Intensive Farming

• Agriculture that involves greater inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the space being used.

Extensive Farming

• Where small amounts of capital and labor are used in relation to the amount of land being farmed.

Bid Rent Theory

• A geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the Central Business District (CBD) increases.
• Helps explain Von Thunen's model.

Von Thunen Model

• A model that explains the location of agricultural activities in a commercial, profit-making economy.

Dairy Farming

• A farm that produces milk or milk products.
• Usually located around big urban areas since products spoil easily.

Grain Farming

• The mass planting and harvesting of grain crops, such as wheat, barley, and millet.
• Can be done far from the CBD where you get cheap land and crops do not spoil easily.

Feedlot

• An area or building where livestock are fed and fattened up.

Ranching

• A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.

Market Gardening (Truck Farming)

• The smaller-scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers.

Plantation Agriculture

• Growing specialized crops such as bananas, coffee, and cacao in tropical developing countries, primarily for sale to developed countries.

Shifting Cultivation

• Clearing forests to plant fields for a few years and then abandoning them.

Family Farm

• A farm where most of the labor required for operation is provided by a family.

Pesticides and Fertilizers

• Used in the Green Revolution which increased food supply.
• Growing concern over environmental and health effects of their use.

Urban Areas

• Densely populated regions that include cities and the suburbs that surround them.

Urbanization

• An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements.

Site

• Physical characteristics of a place.

Situation

• The location of a place relative to other places.

Suburbanization

• The movement of upper and middle-class people from urban core areas to the surrounding outskirts to escape pollution as well as deteriorating social conditions.
• In North America, it became a mass phenomenon in the second half of the twentieth century.

Bengaluru (Bangalore)

• Considered the Silicon Valley of India.

Shenzhen

• A city in China near Hong Kong.
• Migrants to this city are considered temporary residents and do not have access to all government resources (health / education).

Washington D.C.

• The main function of this city is Government.

Detroit, MI

• The main function of this city was the auto industry.

Houston, Texas

• This city functioned as a key hub for the oil and energy industry in the U.S.

Pittsburgh, PA

• Steel production center of the U.S.

Urban Sprawl

• Made possible by transportation improvements, especially the car.
• This is the unplanned and uncontrolled spreading of cities into surrounding regions: large single-family homes, parking lots and large retail stores contribute to this.

Edge City

• A distinct sizable nodal concentration of retail and office space of lower than central city densities and situated on the outer fringes of older metropolitan areas.
• Usually localized by or near major highway intersections.
• The population of the daytime is much higher than the evening or night population.

Boomburb

• A suburban area experiencing significant growth in population and prosperity.
• It has more than 100,000 population.
• Made of planned communities and sometimes even larger than the nearby city (Plano, Texas; Anaheim, California).

Exurbs

• Communities that arise farther out than the suburbs and are typically populated by residents of high socioeconomic status.

Infill

• The process of filling in empty or run-down parts of a city with new development.

Gravity Model

• A model that predicts the degree to which two places will interact.
• The influence of a city is based on size.

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.

Primate City Rule

• A pattern of settlements in a country, such that the largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

Central Place Theory

• A theory that explains the distribution of services, based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services.
• Larger settlements are fewer and farther apart than smaller settlements and provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel farther.

Threshold

• The minimum number of people needed to support the service.

Range

• The maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

Megacity

• A city with a population of 10 million or more.

Metacity

• A city with a population over 20 million.

World Cities (Global Cities)

• Centers of economic, culture, and political activity that are strongly interconnected.
• Their influence extends beyond their national borders.
• (Examples: New York, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong...)

Bid Rent Theory

• A geographical economic theory describing how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the CBD increases, and how this price change impacts land use with commercial being closer to the CBD and residential farther.

Concentric Zone Model

• A structural model of the American central city that suggests the existence of five concentric land-use rings arranged around a common center.
• Distance from the CBD determines land use.

Hoyt Sector Model

• A theory of urban structure that a city develops in a series of certain sectors, instead of rings.
• Distance from the CBD is not key to land use.
• Corridors determine land use.

Multiple Nuclei Model

• A type of urban form wherein cities have numerous centers of business and cultural activity instead of one central place.

Galactic City Model

• Represents the post-industrial city with its several, dispersed business districts.
• This model represents a distinct decentralization of the commercial urban landscape as the economy has transitioned to services as the leading form of production.
• Manufacturing has declined significantly and become specialized.

Squatter Settlement

• An area within a city in a less developed country in which people illegally establish residences on land they do not own or rent and erect homemade structures.

Latin American City Model

• The CBD is dominant and divided into a market sector and a modern high-rise sector.
• The elite residential sector is on the extension of the CBD in the "spine" ending with a "mall" with high-priced residences.
• The further out, the less wealthy it gets with the poorest being on the outer edge.

African City Model

• Model that suggests that African cities have more than one CBD which is a remanence of colonialism.

Southeast Asian City Model

• The focal point of the city is the colonial port zone combined with the large commercial district that surrounds it.

Zoning

• Dividing an area into zones or sections reserved for different purposes such as residence, commercial, business and manufacturing etc.

Vertical Zoning

• When the ground floor of a building is zoned for businesses and the upper floors