AP Human Geography: Models & Theories
Mahan, Alfred
(Influence of Sea Power on History) He believed that the future of military power lay in the navy. Navel strategist and author who argued that national power depended on naval supremacy, colonies, and foreign markets.
Gravity Model
A fraction that predicts the interaction between places on the basis of their population size and distance between them (Population 1 x Population 2 ÷ Distance) The greatest distance will have the least spatial interaction.
Sustainable Development
A way of using natural resources without depleting them, and of providing for human needs without causing long term environmental harm
Rimland Theory
Nicholas Spykman's theory that the domination of the coastal fringes of Eurasia would provided the base for world conquest.
Borchert, John
Proposed a four-stage model of the evolution of the American urban system.
Wallerstein, Immanuel
The creator of the world system theory, which explains how the globalization of capitalism led to changing relations between countries. He said that as capitalism spread, countries around the world became connected to one another in ways they had not been before.
Zipf, G
The rank-size rule was cornerstoned by _____ in _____. It shows that the relationship between the populations of cities goes like this: pop, pop/2, pop/3.... The rule only applies where there is no _____.
Rostow's Stages of Growth
5 stages of economic development: 1. Traditional Society (limited technology, static society) 2. Pre-Conditions to Take-Off (commercial agriculture and extractive industry) 3. Take-Off (Development of a Manufacturing sector) 4. Drive to Maturity (wider industrial and commercial base) 5. High Mass Consumption (consumer oriented with service sector prominent)
Heartland Theory
A geopolitical hypothesis that any political power based in the heart of Eurasia could gain sufficient strength to eventually dominate the world. Mackinder further proposed that since Eastern Europe controlled access to the Eurasian interior, its ruler would command the vast "heartland" to the east
Dependency Theory
A model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of the historical exploitation of poor nations by rich ones
Epidemiologic Transition Model
A shift in the disease pattern of a population as mortality fell during the first stages of the demographic transition. Acute infectious diseases were reduced, whereas chronic, degenerative diseases increased. It also meant a gradual upward shift in the age distribution of deaths.
Domino Theory
A theory that if one unstable state falls or develops a certain type of government, other unstable states around it will follow.
Modernization Theory
A version of market-oriented development theory that argues that low-income societies develop economically only if they give up their traditional ways and adopt modern economic institutions, technologies, and cultural values that emphasize savings and productive investment.
Borlaug, Norman
American agricultural scientist who introduced specially bred crops to developing nations in the 20th century, spurring the Green Revolution.
Boserup Hypothesis
Based on the observation that explains how population increase necessitates increased inputs of labor and technology to compensate for reductions in the natural yields of swidden farming.
Concentric Zone Model
Burgess' concentric zone model is a description of the process of urban growth. There are five different zones: 1.Central Business District 2.Wholesale and Light Manufacturing 3.Low-Class Residential 4. Medium-Class Residential 5. High-Class Residential.
Multiple Nuclei Model
Created by Chauncy Harris and Edward Ullman-accounts for the growing importance of cars and commuting.
Koppen, Vladimir
Developed a climate system for classifying the world's climates on the basis of temperature and precipitation
McGhee, T. G.
Developed a model showing similar land-use patterns among medium sized cities of Southeast Asia. Its focal point is the old colonial port zone. The model also does not find any CBD in Asia, but rather he found elements of the CBD present as separate clusters surrounding the port zone.
Harris, C. & Ullman, E
Developed in the 1950s, this model explains the changing growth pattern of urban spaces based on the assumption that growth occurred independently around several major "NODES", many of which are far away from the central business district and only marginally connected to it.
Sector Model
Different areas attract different activities by chance of environmental factors, and grow out from CBD.
Demographic Transition Model
Explains connection between development and the changes in CBR, CDR, and population growth.
Central Place Theory
Explains relationships between location of businesses and location of population centers. Connected to idea that people travel less distance for essential products but more distance for consumer goods.
Burgess, Ernst
Geographer who created the Concentric Zone Model of the North American city
Weber, Alfred
German economist who developed in 1909 a theory for the location of industries that focused on transportation, labor, and agglomeration as factors of production affecting the optimal (least cost) industrial location.
Christaller, Walter
German geographer who in the early 1930s first formulated central-place theory as a series of models designed to explain the spatial distribution of urban centers. Crucial to his theory is the fact that different goods and services vary both in threshold and in range
Christaller, W
German geographer who in the early 1930s first formulated central-place theory as a series of models designed to explain the spatial distribution of urban centers. Crucial to his theory is the fact that different goods and services vary both in threshold and in range.
Latin American City Model
Griffin-Ford model. City grows around historic city center with different sectors extending from the middle of upper class housing and slums. More slums and industrial parks on periphery.
Ravenstein, Ernst
Hypothesized a set of 11 migration "laws" that can be organized into three groups: the reasons why migrants move, the distance they typically move, and their characteristics.
Carl Sauer's Theory
Idea of Cultural Landscape in which human activity superimposes itself on the physical landscape, leaving its own unique imprints.
Rank Size Rule
In a model urban hierarchy, the idea that the population of a city or town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy, such that the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.
Von Thunen Agricultural Model
It explains agricultural land use patterns by varying transportation cost. The pattern predicts more-intensive rural land is closer to the marketplace, and more extensive rural land is farther from the market place. These rural land use zones are divided into concentric rings.
Migration Transition Model
Migration trends follow demographic transition stages. People become increasingly mobile as industrialization develops. More international migration is seen in stage 2 as migrants search for more space and opportunities in countries in stages 3 and 4. Stage-4 countries show less emigration and more intraregional migration
Hoyt, Homer
Published the sector model of urban structure, response to concentric zone model.
Peripheral Model
Urban areas consisting of an inner city surrounded by large urban residential and business area tied together by a beltway or ring road.
World Systems Theory
Wallerstein's theory of the core, semi-periphery, periphery, and external areas. The core benefited the most from the development of a capitalist world economy. THe semi-perihpery was the buffer between the core and periphery. The periphery are states that lack strong central governments or are controlled by other states. External areas are states that maintained their own economic system and for the most part, remained outside of the capitalist world economy
Malthus, Thomas
Was one of the first to argue that the world's rate of population increase was far outrunning the development of food production. This is important because he brought up the point that we may be outrunning our supplies because of our exponentially growing population.
Neo-Malthusians
a belief that the world is characterized by scarcity and competition in which too many people fight for few resources. Pessimists who warn of the global ecopolitical dangers of uncontrolled population growth
Malthus' Principles of Population
belief that there will always be poverty because food production can't keep up with the rising population, Based on the idea that all poverty comes from a lack of food, and there will never be enough food to support the growing population, and therefore there will always be poverty.
VonThunen, Johann
created an agricultural model for market-oriented crops. A big assumption of the model is that all the farms and their crops have the same market. The model predicts the type of agriculture based on its distance from the farm to the market. Technology has slightly outdated the model. The model can be applied with rings, sectors extending outwards, or even realms.
Mackinder, Halford
created the heartland theory which states that the heartland of the world was between the Volga to the Yangtze and the Himalayas to the Arctic. In the heartland the world was the most populous and most rich. The Americas and England and Australia are on the periphery of the heartland. He stated that whoever controlled the heartland controlled the world.
Sauer, Carl
defined cultural landscape, as an area fashioned from nature by a cultural group. A combination of cultural features such as language and religion; economic features such as agriculture and industry; and physical features such as climate and vegetation.
Hotelling, Harold
developed a Locational Interdependence theory that suggests competitors, in trying to maximize sales, will seek to constrain each other's territory as much as possible which will therefore lead them to locate adjacent to one another in the middle of their collective customer base.
Griffin, E & Ford, L
developed a model of the Latin American city showing a blend of traditional elements of Latin American culture with the forces of globalization that are reshaping the urban scene.
Omran, Abdel
developed a system of three stages of epidemiologic transition: age of pestilence and famine, age of receding pandemics and finally age of degenerative and human-made transitions. It was later expanded to five stages.
Renfrew, Carl
developed hypothesis where in he proposed that three areas in and near the first agricultural hearth, the Fertile Crescent, gave rise to 3 language families:Europe's indo-European lang. North African and Arabian languages and the languages in present-day Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
Gimbutas
developed the Kurgan hypothesis in that the Proto-Indo-European language was spoken by the Kurgans near Russia and Kazakhstan around 4300 B.C.. They were nomadic herders and spread the language by conquering much of Europe and South Asia
Rostow, W
developed the Modernization Model - a liberal model that postulates that economic modernization occurs in five basic stages: Stage 1: Traditional Stage 2: Preconditions for takeoff Stage 3: Takeoff Stage 4: Drive to Maturity Stage 5: Age of Mass Consumption
Spykman, Nicholas
developed the Rimland Theory, which argues that the Eurasian rim (land & sea), not the heartland, holds the key to global power. ___________ adopts Mackinder's divisions of the world, renaming some: the Heartland, the Rimland, and the Offshore Islands & Continents.
Losch, August
developed the Zone of Profitability to determine the locations manufacturing plants could choose to maximize profit. He added the consumer demand and production costs to his calculations, determining the point of maximum profit is often difficult, but firms will usually try to identify a zone in which some kind of profit can be expected.
Bid-Rent Theory
geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance from the Central Business District (CBD) increases.
Zelinsky, Wilbur
identified 12 major perceptual regions on a series of maps and analyzed the telephone directories of 276 metropolitan areas in the US and Canada & developed a migration transition model which complemented the demographic transition.
Boserup, E
observed that population increase necessitates increased inputs of labor and technology to compensate for reductions in the natural yields of swidden farming.
Weber's Least Cost Theory
theory that described the optimal location of a manufacturing firm in relation to the cost of transportation, labor, and advantages through agglomeration
