AP Human Geography
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John Borchert: Geographer from the University of Minnesota
The Urban Model explains the direct relation of evolution of
American Metropolis and phases of transportation and
communication.
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Shows the necessity of transportation in the
development of cities.
Five Stages of Transportation
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Sail-Wagon (1790-1830)
Iron Horse (Steam Engine, Steamboats, Railroad)
(1830-1870)
Steel Rail (Long Railroads, National Railroad
Networks) (1870-1920)
Auto-Air (Complex Gas Combustion Engine) (19201970)
High Tech (1970-?)
Ernest Burgess
Biography:
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Ernest Burgess was born on May 16, 1886 in Tilbury, Ontario, Canada to
Edmund J. Burgess and Mary Ann Jane Wilson Burgess.
He was the president of the American Sociological Society.
Premise:
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E. W. Burgess created the concentric zone model to explain the distribution
of different social groups within urban areas.
The concentric zone model shows a city growing outward from a central
area in a series of concentric rings.
The innermost zone is called the CBD (A), and this is where nonresidential
activities are concentrated.
The second ring surrounding the CBD is called the zone in transition (B), and
this contains industry and poorer-quality housing. This zone has many
apartments, and a lot of houses for single individuals are found here.
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The third zone is the zone of the working-class homes (C), and it
contains modest older houses occupied by stable, working-class
families.
The fourth zone has newer and more spacious houses for middle-class
families (D).
The last zone, the commuters’ zone (E), is continuous built-up area of
the city. This zone consists of small villages and towns.
Function:
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Urban growth is a process of expansion and reconversion of land uses,
with a tendency of each inner zone to expand in the outer zone.
Weaknesses:
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The model is too simple and limited in historical and cultural
applications
The model was developed when American cities were
growing very fast in demographic terms and when motorized
transportation was still uncommon as most people used
public transit.
There were a lot of spatial differences in terms of ethnic, social
and occupational status, while there were low occurrence of
the functional differences in land use patterns.
Strengths:
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It explains the location of land uses in a monocentric city.
Effectiveness:
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The Burgess model remains useful as a concept explaining
concentric urban development, as a way to introduce the
complexity of urban land use and to explain urban growth in
American cities in the early-mid 20th century.
Judith Carney
• Judith Carney spent several months studying how
the rice brought from Africa affected Southern
Culture in the United States and other areas where
there were large plantations and African slave trade
was dominant.
• Her theory is supposed to explain that the
movement of the rice (or other crops) into different
areas with similar climates can stimulate the
economy and affect the culture.
Judith Carney
• Her model was used to determine the
accuracy of the idea that Europeans
developed rice farming techniques. She
concluded that this idea was incorrect and
that the slaves brought from Africa developed
them.
• Her theory is very accurate, but is not often
used outside of her book, Black Rice.
BIOGRAPHY’S
Manuel Castella, a Spanish sociologist especially associated with research on the
information society, communication and globalization, led the debate in favor of
spatiality initiated by Foucault and Lefebvre, and orientated it towards what are today
the two great nodes of contemporary urban criticism: Globalization and mass
consumption. Since 2008 he has been a member of the governing board of the
European Institute of Innovation and Technology.
Sir Peter Geoffrey Hall, is an English town planner, urbanist and geographer. He is the
Bartlett Professor of Planning and Regeneration at The Bartlett, University College
London and President of both the Town and Country Planning Association and the
Regional Studies Association. He is internationally renowned for his studies and
writings on the economic, demographic, cultural and management issues that face
cities around the globe. Hall is considered by many to be the father of the industrial
enterprise zone concept, adopted by countries worldwide to develop industry in
disadvantaged areas.
Technopolis: a business area that brings together high-technology
industries that have close links with centers of research and
development. These are model industries, advanced, clean, and
small, the workers of which are highly specialized. The reason
behind having the Technopolises is the exploitation of the synergies
generated by the physical proximity of high-technology companies.
It is for this reason that it is understood that in the genesis of a
Technopolis three partners must exist: The entrepreneurs, the
government, and the academic world. The effectiveness of
Technopolis has been positive. MIT and Harvard, two of the
highest ranked schools in the nation, have attracted a lot of
technology based industry as a result of this theory.
Aharon Dolgopolsky
November 18, 1930- July 20, 2012
Language/Culture
What is he known for?
He was the first to undertake a multilateral
comparison of the daughter-languages of
Nostratic.
Dolgoposlky was Russian-Israeli
linguist and one of the modern
founders of comparative Nostratic
linguistic, which is proposed to be the
first language.
Nostratic Hypothesis-a proposed
language family that includes many of
the indigenous language families of
Eurasia.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The theory was not well accepted due
to the many problems and holes
presented in the research after the
untimely publishing of the theory in
1966, but since then has started to
become more widely accepted by
linguists.
• In the 1990’s, new research eliminated
many doubtful parts of Illich-Svitych’s,
father of the reaserch, work and discovered
significant new evidence for the validity of
the theory.
• For example, a number of Nostratic words
have been found to be more widely attested
than was suspected
• The Nostratic Hypothesis was used to figure
out what the first language was, and is still
being used to prove the theory
Bio
Clifford Geertz was
born in San Francisco
in 1926. He served in
the US Navy during
World War 2, Then
got is PHD at
Harvard. He then
took a job teaching
anthropology at the
University of
Chicago.
Premise
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Culture is learned
through communication
of people that live in a
common area.
Ex: The Baptist sect of
Christianity is dominant
in the southeast of
America, so someone
growing up in the south
would be exposed to
that sect and more than
likely become a part of
it.
Function
This model is used to
interpret culture and
used to find out how
certain parts of the
culture developed.
Effectivene
ss
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This model is very
effective because people
learn traditions,
languages, and religions
all through
communication. These
things make up culture.
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Harris created the peripheral model, which is an urban area that consisted of an inner city surrounded by
a large suburban residential and business areas that are tied together by a beltway.
Both Harris and Ullman helped to create the multiple nuclei model, which is a city that is a complex
structure that includes more than one center around which activities revolve.
Examples of this structure could be a port, neighborhood business center, university, airport, and a park.
This model is supposed to explain how certain businesses and stores are attracted to one area over
another, like the example of how bookstores, restaurants, and families may be more attracted to a
suburban residential area over a large city.
Some criticisms of the model could be disregard of height of buildings; non-existence of abrupt divisions
between zones; no consideration of influence of physical relief and government policy; and the
concepts may not be totally applicable to all cities with different cultural, economic and political
backgrounds.
This model is good because it shows cities grow around multiple points and not just one main point.
Chauncey Harris:
•He was raised in Utah and earned his degree at Brigham Young
University at the age of nineteen.
•For graduate school, he went to the University of Chicago, and then to
the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics and finally
back to the University of Chicago, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1940.
•Chauncey served on the faculties of Indiana University and the
University of Nebraska before returning to the University of Chicago to be
a professor of geography.
E.L. Ullman
•Ullman was born 1912 and died in 1976.
•He was a University of Washington professor of geography.
•In 1974, President Nixon appointed him to Amtrak's board of directors.
Richard Hartshome
By: Paige Mandas
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Lived from 1899-1992
He completed his undergraduate studies at Princeton University
(1920) and his doctorate at the University of Chicago (1924), then
taught at the University of Minnesota (1924–40) and the University of
Wisconsin (1945–70)
Theory used to determine boundaries
Hartshorne reasoned that certain boundaries were defined and
delimited before the present-day human landscape developed.
Richard Hartshome
The evolution of boundaries:
1. Antecedent-Westward expansion in the United States
and Canada, on opposite sides of the 49th parallel,
created two corridors of settlement, transport routes,
and other features of the cultural landscape.
2. Superimposed-After World War II, defeated Germany
was divided into two countries. boundary was strongly
demarcated (as part of the Iron Curtain) to prevent an
exodus from East Germany to West Germany.
3. Subsequent-are exemplified by Belgium and its
neighbors. A long-term process of adjustment produced
what is on the map today, with every mile of boundary
codified in international treaties.
4. Relict- The boundary between East and West Germany,
Relict boundaries are those that have ceased to
function, but whose imprints are still evident on the
cultural landscape.
E. Adamson Hoebel
E. Adamson Hoebel was born in 1906. he graduated
from Columbia University and had occupations
including academic and anthropologist. He died in
1993 at the age of 87 years old.
• “Culture is wholly the result of social inventions and is
transmitted and maintained solely through
communications and learning”
• E. Adamson Hoebel is saying that culture is something
that is carefully passed down from person to person and
spread through human contacts.
• This model isn't used at a specific time rather, it is a
widely excepted idea.
The Model
E. Adamson Hoebel
HOMER HOYT: THE SECTOR MODEL
The Sector Model states that zones expand outwards from the city (or a central
business district) along railroads, highways, and other transportation routes.
Hoyt theorized that cities tended to grow in wedge-shaped patterns -- or sectors -emanating from the central business district and centered on major
transportation routes.
The best housing or high income areas were closer to the CBD than the low income
areas, which were located closer to the transportation routes.
Refinement of Burgess’s theory
Urban
THE SECTOR THEORY
The model applies to numerous British cities. For example, if it is turned 90 degrees
counter-clockwise it fits the city of Newcastle upon Tyne reasonably accurately.
This may be because of the age of the cities when transportation was a key limitation,
as a general rule older cities follow the Hoyt model and more recent cities follow
the Burgess (concentric zone) model.
If a city is more modern, the Sector Theory usually does not apply to it due to new
forms of transportation .
Ellsworth Huntington
• Bio:
• (1876-1947), theories were broad, visited countries and
described how the climate affected each society
• Theory: Environmental Determinism
• Subset called Climatic Determinism
• Premise:
• Climate is major determinant of civilization
• Ex: temperate climate of Maritime Europe produced better human
conditions
• Physical environment caused social development
Ellsworth Huntington Continued
• Function
• Used to make sense of
the relationship between
humans and their
environment
• Effectiveness
• Not effective
• Often racist
• Research was not based
on direct observations
• Refuted by Possibilism
• Totally replaced by 1950
Law of the Primate City
and Rank Size Rule
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 Bio: developed by Mark Jefferson
 Chief cartographer of the American Delegation to the
Paris Peace Conference in 1919, president of the
American Association of Geographers
 Premise: Every country has a “Primate City”
(a city that dominates in economics, social factors, and
politics) Rank size rule- 2nd largest city is ½ size of
Primate city, 3rd largest city is 1/3 the size of the
Primate city, etc.
Law of the Primate City
and Rank Size Rule cont.
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 Function: to understand why countries have cities of
different sizes and what it says about their
development
 Effectiveness
 LDCs follow the primate city rule but the rank size
rule tends to fail at lower levels of hierarchy
 Has an impact on quality of life for country’s
inhabitants
 Indicates there is not enough wealth in societies of
LDCs to pay for a full variety of services
Sivard studied the differences between the behaviors of
men and women and she also worked for the U.S.
government department of Arms Control and
Disarmament Agency.
 Universal averages can convey a sense of the scope of
diversity. Life expectancy is a broad measure of national
well-being. It shows that the average life span of women
in some countries is almost double that in others. In fact,
women in richer countries may hope to live 30 years or
more longer than women in some of the poorer countries.
Adult literacy rates have an even wider gap between the
highest and the lowest national averages. From 99 to 100
percent in most developed countries, the proportion of
adult women who are literate drops to a low of 3 percent
in the least developed. These statistics are taken into
account when developing this theory.
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Sivard's theory was not very effective because she talks
about men being the first to try unhealthy habits and this
isn't always true. She only looks at the stereotype of men
and women and draws her conclusions from that, so her
theory is very generalized.
 Premise:
Women/Men GAP widens with economic progress
Men are first to try unhealthy habits of progress – smoke,
drink etc.
Women will catch up and lower their Life Expectancy
“silent revolution” is slowly gaining in strength. Women are
more educated, more active economically, more
successful politically than they were a few decades ago.
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Halford Mackinder: The Heartland Theory
• The British Geographer, Mackinder, formulated the
Heartland theory, which states the ruler of Europe is the
ruler of all of Eurasia in 1904
• It is also called the pivot area
Is the Heartland Model Effective?
• It was until recently an effective model. In World War I,
The Russian Revolution, and the Cold War, the model
was used by the involved countries to gain power
• His theory is now obsolete because of the advancement
of bombers and missiles
• Also, it can be disproved because two current world
powers include China and the United States which aren’t
in any way in control of Eurasia
• It focuses mostly on land control leading to power instead
of sea power which has become more important with the
advancement of sea warfare
Thomas Malthus
&
Population
BIO: Thomas Malthus:
Political Economic Club
Opposing people against him
Professor of history + economy
Function: to assess population growth’s
effect on the carrying capacity (max. #
ppl earth that sustain) of Earth
how does pop. affect ability to feed
oneself?
how does the graph grow?
Function: the
food grows
arithmetically
Disease= positive
because it keeps
population down
Function:
population grows
exponentially
Prevent pop
growth by:
marrying later,
abstaining from
procreation,
homosexuality
Premise: the model shows how population growth affects food (ability to feed
oneself) as the population grows exponentially larger and larger. Malthus argues that
this model shows the following in his Malthusian theory:
-that population overtakes the land that would be developed for crops
-that an increasing population would eventually diminish everyone’s ability to
feed oneself
-therefore, the carrying capacity of the earth would be breached
Pros: -shows the “struggle of existence” which impacted Darwin’s evolution theory
Cons: - fails to recognize that people have the potential to increase food supply
- potential by means of science and technology
- Malthus only believes that population is negative and cannot be overcome
McGee Theory
• His model is known as Desakota. (meaning “desa” for
village and “kota” for town)
• Developed by geographer T.G. McGee, the model
shows similar land-use patterns among the mediumsized cities of Southeast Asia.
• The cities were old colonial port cities that were
analyzed on how they were effected by and connected
to surrounding districts.
• It would be used to symbolize specific areas that would
be an investment for companies that contribute to
urbanization.
Friedrich Ratzel
 Bio: Friedrich Ratzel
 August 30, 1844-August 9, 1904
 a German geographer and ethnographer
 notable for first using the term Lebensraum ("living space")
 Premise: Organic Theory of Nations- nations act like
living organism- must grow and will eventually
decline
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Claimed that geography was the study of the influences of the
natural environment on people
Continued…
 Function: used to make sense of why nations rise
and fall. Explains why nations evolve and change.
 Effectiveness: gives explanation as to why nations
grow and develop.
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Gained a negative reputation when Hitler and the Nazis
embraced the policy
Theory still true today
Gives valid explanation for why nations are the way they are
today
E.G. Ravensten
• Established the Theory of Human Migration in the
1880’s
• Laws: 1) Most People Migrate for economic reasons.
2) Most long distance migrants are male. 3) Long
Distance migrants head for major cities in other
countries.
• Considers the distance and different types of
migrants, where women are more likely to migrate in
their home country, as compared to males.
W.W. Roslow: Modernization Theory
 Roslow was born in New York and attended Yale at the age of 15 one a full ride, he
graduated in four years with a Phd completed in 1940. He was a Rhodes scholar and
studied at Balliol College in Oxford, England.
 During WWII he served in the Office of strategic services, in 1960 he joined JFK’s
campaign and this is where he got into economical models and eventually came up
with the Modernization theory.
 The Modernization theory is used to explain the process of modernization within
societies.
 5 stages of economical growth, Traditional society, Pre-conditions to take-off
,take-off, Maturity, and Mass consumption, these are a very important part of
Roslows theory of Modernization.
 He used these factors to figure out how modernized a country is or will be.
Weaknesses in the Model
 The theories of Roslow have been outdated and proved wrong by
the “Asian Tigers” (Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Thailand)
 The Theories have become obsolete due to criticism from many
other theorists.
 Competed with the Dependence theory.
Carl Sauer
Bio: Carl Sauer was born on December 24, 1889 in Warrenton, Missouri and died in
1975. He studied at the university of Northwestern in Evanston, Illinois. There he studied
geography and developed an interest in the past. He didn’t agree with environmental
determinism.
• Premise: Cultural Landscape- Human activity superimposes itself on the physical
landscape and that each cultural group leaves imprints. Sauer's opinions on
environmental determinism changed and he became convinced that humans control
nature and develop their cultures out of that control, not the other way around.
•
We cut down the forest to
adapt to our needs.
Carl Sauer
Function: it was developed in 1925 and it is used by developing things that make a region
unique and suitable for the culture living there. For example, dams and burning down
forests.
 Effectiveness:
 gives a valid explanation that humans shape the region they live in
agriculture, domestication of pants, animals have a impact on the physical
environment
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it is useful today because people use their ideas to develop things that will help
them survive
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Gideon Sjoberg
• Wrote studies on preindustrial cities in the
past and present
• His studies included patterns such as the
nature of the education, the economy, and
communication patterns in these preindustrial
cities
• Sjoberg was Swedish and that is literally all
that Google wanted to tell me about this guy
JOHN SNOW: (MEDICAL
GEOGRAPHY)
•
Snow later used a dot map, very successfully to illustrate the cluster of cholera cases around the pump.
He also used statistics to illustrate the connection between the quality of the water source and cholera
cases. He showed that the Southwark and Vauxhall Waterworks Company was collecting water from
sewage-polluted sections of the Thames River and delivering the water to homes, leading to an increased
incidence of cholera. Snow's study was a major event in the history of public health and geography.
•
After Snow’s use of the dot map to show the cluster of cholera cases he
became part of the Temperance movement and lived for about 10
years as a vegetarian and a teetotaler, which is a choice not to drink
any alcoholic beverages.
•
In 2001 the John snow college founded on the University of Durnham Queen’s
campus there was a statue in his honor called the Stockton-on-Tees.
Nicholas Spykman
 Rimland Theory- Eurasian Rim not the
Heartland was the key to Global Power.
Whoever controls the Rimland rules
Eurasia, which in turn controls the
destinies of the world
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“Geography of the Place”
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Heartland- Eastern Europe,
Russia
Rimland- Western Europe, Middle
East and Asia
Nicholas Spykman’s Rimland Theory
O It was a 1942 theory that the domination of
the coastal fringes of Eurasia (the “rimland”)
would provide the base for world conquest
which countered Mackinder’s Heartland
theory.
O His theory was invalid
and unrelatable to
any other time period.
Example - His theory was influential mainly during the Cold War. The Soviet Union desired to control
the rimland around them. If accomplished, the Soviet Union would control the heartland, rimland,
and the World Island (continent).
Johann Heinrich von Thünen 17831850
• Established the Thünen rings.
• Each ring based on agricultural
distribution, where agricultural
activities around a city depend on
bulk and perishability of products.
• Rings: 1) City Center (Black) 2) Market gardening
(White) 3)Forest (Green) 4) Grains (Yellow) 5)
Ranching [Livestock(Red)].
• Dark Green is where farming is not profitable.
• Location of Industry (Least Cost Theory)
• Agglomeration: People and activities concentrate in a location where they
can share facilities and services
• Transportation of raw materials (fishing and forestry) and final product is
a minimal cost
• Leans on work development and explains and predicts the location at a
macro scale
• Finds the most mutual place and makes
that where the two or three places
would meet
• The location of the junction matters on
how much the market will grow