20 Concepts/Models Flashcards
Master all 20 (20 cards)
- Distance Decay Model
Definition: The farther away something is, the less likely people are to interact with it.
Example: You’re more likely to shop at a store nearby than one 50 miles away.
- Time-Space Compression
Definition: Technology makes places feel closer because we can connect faster.
Example: Video calling someone across the world instantly.
- Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory
Definition: Divides countries into core (rich), semi-periphery (middle), and periphery (poor).
Example: The U.S. is core, Brazil is semi-periphery, and many African countries are periphery.
- Map Projection Types
Definition: Ways to show the Earth on a flat map, each with distortions.
Example: Mercator map keeps shape but makes areas near the poles look bigger.
- Population Pyramids
Definition: Graphs that show age and gender of a country’s people.
Example: A triangle shape shows a growing population.
- Demographic Transition Model
Definition: Shows how birth and death rates change as countries develop.
Example: Poor countries are in stage 2, rich ones are in stage 4 or 5.
- Epidemiological Transition
Definition: Shows how causes of death change as countries develop.
Example: Poor countries face infectious diseases; rich ones face heart disease and cancer.
- Ravenstein’s Laws of Migration
Definition: Migration patterns like most people move short distances, and big cities attract more.
Example: More people move from villages to cities than the other way around.
- Gravity Model
Definition: Bigger and closer places have more interaction.
Example: New York and Boston trade more than New York and a small town far away.
- Remittances
Definition: Money sent home by people working in another country.
Example: A man in the U.S. sends money to his family in Mexico.
- Cultural Diffusion
Definition: The spread of culture from one place to another.
Example: Sushi becoming popular in the U.S.
- Choke Points
Definition: Narrow areas that are important for trade or military control.
Example: The Strait of Hormuz, Panama canal
- Bid Rent Theory
Definition: Land closer to the city center is more expensive.
Example: A store in downtown costs more than one in the suburbs.
- Hearths of Civilizations
Definition: Places where early civilizations started.
Example: Mesopotamia and the Nile River Valley.
- Columbian Exchange
Definition: Exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old and New Worlds.
Example: Europeans brought horses and smallpox to the Americas.
- Von Thünen Model
Definition: Explains where different types of farming happen around a city. 1. Central city, 2. Intensive agriculture and dairy, 3. Forestary, 4. Increasingly extensive field crops, 5.Ranching animal products.
Example: Dairy farms close to the city, grain farther away.
- Central Place Theory
Definition: Explains how cities serve as centers for services.
Example: Bigger cities have more stores and hospitals than small towns.
- Models of Cities
Definition: Different ways to show how cities are organized.
Example: Concentric Zone Model shows rings of activity around downtown.
- Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth
Definition: A model showing how countries develop in 5 stages. 1) traditional society, 2) preconditions to take-off, 3) take-off, 4) drive to maturity and 5) age of high mass consumption.
Example: The U.S. is in stage 5 (high mass consumption).
- Weber’s Least Cost Theory
Definition: Businesses locate where costs for transport, labor, and land are lowest.
Example: A factory builds near raw materials to save money on shipping.
