The Region - An area of the earth that displays a distinctive grouping or physical or cultural phenomena
- An area that is functionally united as a single organizational unit
- Used to divide the world into smaller, more easily understood pieces
Regional Concept - Physical and cultural phenomena are arranged by complex but comprehensible spatial processes
Characteristics of Regions - Location
- Generally a relative location
- Spatial Extent
- Exist within a definable geographic space
- Boundaries
- The edge of the defined traits of the selected region
- May be zones of transition or precise, linear separations
- Tend to be subjective and even arbitrary
- Formal Regions
- Areas of essential uniformity in one or a limited combination of features
- The largest area over which a valid generalization may be made
- Climate and Culture zones
- Functional Regions
- Areas defined by dynamic interactions and connections
- Areas tend to be subject to rapid and constant change and modification
- Hierarchically Arranged
- Large regions are composed of smaller regions
- “Super-regions” may be called Realms
Perceptual/Popular/Vernacular Regions - Define a Sense of Place
- Composites of mental maps of people – individuals and groups
Regions in Physical Geography - Landform Regions
- Tend to be more sharply defined and agreed upon
- Tend to be based upon visible features and changes in the landscape
- Tend to be durable and long-lasting/constant
- Weather and Climate
- Considered an example of a Multifactor Formal Region
- Tend to be dynamic and cyclical
- Natural Resource Regions
- Tend to be sub-surface features
- Three dimensional regions
- Tend to be similar to landform regions
- Heavily subject to human use and modification
- Can become complex Multifactor Functional Regions
- Advances in technology
- Depletion
- Replacement
Regions in the Culture-Environment Tradition - Creates regions defined by the myriad of human cultural variation and land-use
- Tend to be dynamic and subjective
- Population
- One of the more basic forms of geographic study
- Uses transportation patterns, climate, landforms, political divisions, technological expertise, urbanization, etc…
- Language
- Can be small or large area, single factor regions
- Cognitive or Mental
- Tend to be much less precise and formalized
- Personal views of regions and regionalization
- Individual Activity Areas
- Political
- Tend to be rigidly defined and carefully surveyed
- May be marked on the physical landscape
- Subject to change, negotiation, and dispute
Regions of the Location Tradition - Focuses more on the interactions of the cultural landscape
- Tend to be Multifactor Functional Regions
- Economic
- Looks at interaction between people, resources, and culture
- Looks at change and trends
- Urban
- Urban Geography and urbanization
- Ecosystems
- Systems Analysis
- Studies the organization, structure, and functional dynamics of an area
- Quantifies the interrelations and interactions between segments
- Human impact on the landscape and environment
Ecology - The study of how organisms interact with one another and their environment
- Human construction of the Cultural Environment
- Began with the earliest hunter-gatherers
- Burning of areas
- Planting beneficial plants
- Modifying the landscape
- Took off with Agriculture
- Furthered with urbanization
Biosphere - The earth and the atmosphere in which we live.
- Composed of three interrelated parts
- Troposphere – lowest layer of the Earth’s atmosphere
- Hydrosphere – surface and subsurface waters
- Lithosphere/Earth’s Crust – the upper few thousand feet
- Functions with two interrelated components
- Outside energy source – the Sun
- Living world of plants and animals
Ecosystems - Self-sustaining units of the Biosphere which consist of all the organisms and physical features existing together in a particular area.
- Everything is interconnected
- Modification of one niche affects every other niche
Food Chain - A sequence of organisms through which energy and materials move within an ecosystem
Environmental Pollution - Introduction into the biosphere of wastes that cannot be readily disposed of by natural recycling processes.
- Point Sources
- Pollution enters from a specific site
- Non-point Sources
- Pollution is expelled from a more diffuse and widespread source
Impact on Water - Hydrologic Cycle
- The system through which water cycles though the biosphere
- Cycle tends to purify the water
Availability of Water - Regional variation as to access to water and reliability of water resources
- Rain and snow fall
- Rivers and lakes
- Subsurface aquifer
- Size of Population dependent upon water
- Personal use and agricultural use
- 70-90% of water use if for agriculture
- Scarcity
- Increasingly used to discuss available water resources for humans and agriculture
- Water Deficit
- Consuming more water than your annual renewable supply
- Generally associated with groundwater aquifers
- Texas – operates a major water deficit
- Desalination
- Cleansing of sea water of salts and minerals for use by humans
- Expensive and inefficient
Modification of Streams - Prevent flooding, regulate supply, generate power
- Channelization
- Construction of embankments and dikes
- Straightening, widening, and deepening of channels
- Decrease of wetlands and species
- Dam Construction
- Artificial impediment to water flow
- Water storage for individual use and irrigation
- Prevent flooding
- Canals
- Reservoirs
Water Quality - Agriculture is the chief cause of water pollution
Agricultural Sources of Water Pollution - Fertilizers
- Nitrates and phosphates from manure and artificial fertilizers
- Eutrophication – enrichment of waters by nutrients
- Accelerated Eutrophication – from fertilizers
- Stimulates growth of algae and other plants
- Blocks sunlight and oxygen
- Creation of Dead Zones in the oceans
- Biocides
- Herbicides and pesticides
- DDT
- Long term presence in the environment
- Unknown long term affects of even small amounts in humans and animals
- Animal Wastes
- Spreading of manure on farmland and from contamination from waste pools.
- Dead zones in oceans
- Contamination of food products with animal waste
Industrial Sources of Water Pollution - Equal to agriculture in industrialized nations
- Acids, toxic minerals and organic chemicals, radiation
- Mercury – from power plants
- PCBs – found throughout the manufacturing and industrial process
- Plastics
- Petroleum Industry
- Toxic organic chemicals
- Direct release of oil into the environment
- Acid Rain
- Thermal Pollution
- Discharge of heated water into the environment
Mining - For coal and other minerals
- Contamination of groundwater and surface water
- Cyanide and mercury for gold mining
- Strip mining and mountaintop mining
Municipalities and Residences - Uses of chemicals
- Storage tanks
- Waste sewage
- Storm water runoff
Impact on Air and Climate - Air Pollutants
- Carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, particulates, sulfur oxides
- Factors Affecting Air Pollution
- Temperature inversions
- Stationary layer of warm air above cooler air
- Air does not move and pollutants accumulate
- air currents
- move pollutants from their source to downwind areas
- levels of urbanization and industrialization
- High population and transportation densities increase pollution
- Types and locations of industry
- Agricultural practices – field burning
- Acid Rain (Precipitation)
- Sulfuric and Nitric Acid
- Produced by burning fossil fuels
- Vehicles, industries, power plants, metal smelting
- Carried hundreds of kilometers by air currents
- Increases the acidity of the area where it falls
- Terrestrial Effects
- Acidifies soil
- Coats soil with toxic metals
- Kills microorganisms and plants
- Aquatic Effects
- Kills microorganisms, plants, and insects
- Interferes with fish reproduction and feeding
- Material Effects
- Damage to buildings and monuments
- Photochemical Smog
- Nitrogen oxides – Ozone
- Assisted by hot and sunny weather
- Generally an urban problem
- Causes lung damage and ailments
- Significant increases in asthma in children
- Damage to plants
- Depletion of Ozone Layer
- Forms blanket in upper atmosphere
- Protects earth from solar radiation
- Can be destroyed by a variety of industrial chemicals
- Ozone depletion over entire earth
- Increases in skin cancers in humans
- Destruction of oceanic algae
- Damage to other plant life
Controlling Air Pollution - Montreal Protocol of 1987
- To reduce and eliminate CFC’s
- Still a problem in developing nations
- 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution
- 33 countries in Europe and the Americas
- To reduce Acid Rain and Smog and Ozone
- U.S. Clean Air Acts (1963, 1965, 1970, 1977, 1990)
- Reduce urban smog by limiting allowable levels of particulates and ozone
- Promote cleaner burning fuels
- Lower emissions from vehicles
- Reducing acid rain causing emissions from power plants
- Strategies
- Improved technologies for fossil fuel usage
- Reduce energy consumption
- Reduce emissions from motor vehicles
Impact on Landforms - Excavation (tell story about silver city bars, closing time, dogs…)
- Surface/Open Pit Mining
- Strip Mining/Montaintop Removal
- Pits, ponds, canals, reservoirs, etc.
- Dumping
- Mining – spoil heaps/slag heaps
- Agriculture
- Dredging and dikes
- Surface Depressions
- Subsidence
- Sinkholes and pits
Impact on Plants and Animals - Endangered Species
- Immediate jeopardy of becoming extinct in the wild
- Vulnerable Species
- Decreasing population – likely to be come extinct
- Threatened Species
- Refer to both endangered and vulnerable species
- Extinction
- Habitat Disruption
- Main threat to species
- Agriculture, mining, logging, urbanization
- Hunting and Commercial Exploitation
- Ivory, trophies, medicinal, sport
- Over fishing
- Exotic Species
- No native predators
- Out-compete and replace native species
- Killer/Africanized Bees, Gypsy Moth, Tiger Mosquito, Zebra Mussels, Sparrows, Honey Bees
- Poisoning and Contamination
- Biological Magnification – the accumulation of poisons in an organism and its concentration at higher levels in the food chain.
- Highest levels in the top predators
- Increasing resistance to chemicals
Solid-Waste Disposal - Municipal Waste
- Mainly domestic waste with some commercial
- Affluence
- Disposable society
- Americans worst at waste
- Packaging
- For all of the disposable waste
- Open Space
- Does not force recycling and reduction
- Hazardous Waste
- Poses threat to human health and/or the environment
- Household chemicals
- Electronic devices
- Landfills
- 71% of all U.S. Municipal Waste goes into landfills
- Great threat of groundwater contamination
- Incineration
- Burn it
- Emissions contain many pollutants
- Toxins, heavy metals, sulfides, etc…
- More favored in Japan and Europe
- Source Reduction and Recycling
- Producing less waste
- Reduce weigh of packaging
- Concentrate materials
- Recovery and reprocessing of used materials
- Requires lower cost to recycle than discard
- Impoverished work forces in 3rd World Countries
Hazardous Waste - More than 400 substances classified as hazardous by EPA
- Categories of Hazardous Waste
- Ignitable wastes – catches fire easily
- Corrosive wastes – acids or bases which will corrode metal containers
- Reactive wastes – unstable and can cause explosions, toxic fumes, gases, or vapors when heated, compressed, or mixed with water.
- Toxic waste – chemical or metal toxins
- Low-level waste
- Decays in less than 100 years
- Commonly found in landfills
- Major threat to groundwater and health
- High-level waste
- Can remain radioactive for over 10,000 years
- Civilian and military nuclear programs
- Disposal of hazardous waste
- Buried sealed containers
- Dumping at sea
- Exporting to other countries
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976)
- Early regulation on hazardous waste
- Track waste from entrance through disposal
- Superfund Site
Origin and evolution of cities - Settled hunter-gatherers and early agriculturalists
- Agriculture
- Agriculture requires year-round activities
- Agriculture provides a surplus of food
- Settled lifestyles and grains reduce infant mortality
- Emerging Political elite and power
- Military
- Religious
- Based on control of surplus
- Hydraulic Civilization Theory
- Control of city and hinterland
- Areas easy to defend or with materials to construct defences
- Areas with access to transportation
- Development of a complex economy
- Increased numbers of specialists
- Merchants (incipient middle class)
- Development of new agricultural practices and technology
- Larger surpluses
- Fewer farmers needed
- Increased urbanization
- Industrial Revolution
- Agricultural technology
- Jobs in cities
Location of Urban Areas - Dependent upon efficiency
- Centrality
- Location relative to resources
- Transportation network
- Site
- Situation
- Break-of-Bulk Points
- Location along a trade route where goods must be transferred from one carrier to another
- Ports, river crossings and head of navigation, borders, transportation hubs, etc…
Economic Base - Basic Sector
- Population producing goods and services for regions surrounding or outside of the urban area
- Bring money from the periphery/hinterlands into the urban area
- Non-basic Sector
- Population producing goods and services for the urban area itself
- Redistribute urban wealth
- Numbers grow faster than basic personnel
- Overlap between sectors
- Produces a Multiplier Effect
- The more people involved in the basic sector the more people arrive to provide for non-basic needs
- Urban Classifications
- Manufacturing
- Retailing
- Wholesaling
- Transportation
- Government
Functions of Cities - Cities generally have multiple functions
- Many cities specialize in one or more functions
- Functions
- Central Place
- Transport center
- Special functions
Central Markets - Central Place Theory (see below)
- Urban Influence Zones
- The size of the area affected/controlled/influenced by one urban area and not another
- Dependent upon distance from the urban area
Central Place Theory (Walter Christaller – 1933) - Explains size and location of urban areas
- Concepts and assumptions
- Towns would develop to provide basic services for agricultural areas
- Agricultural population dispersed in an even pattern
- People would possess similar needs, wants, and income
- Each product or service requires a “threshold” number of people before it develops in an urban area
- Consumers go to the nearest location for goods and services
- Results
- Landscape can be divided up into hexagonal market areas
- A central place will be located at the center of each market area
- The size of the central place and its market area will be proportional to the goods and services offered at that central place
- Further Results
- Towns of similar size are generally evenly spaced across the landscape
- Larger towns are placed farther apart than smaller ones
- More small towns than large ones
- Spacing of towns is interdependent
- Removal or placement of a town requires entire system to readjust
- The higher the threshold for a good or service the farther (on average) the consumer must travel to get it.
Centers of Production and Services - Cities form around and attract industry
- Population engaged in manufacturing/industry attracts service people
- Service population can overtake manufacturing in importance
- Post-Industrial society
Centers of Administration and Institutions - Urban areas as places from which control is exercised upon the hinterland
- Administration as a non-basic service
- Federal, state, metropolitan, and local governments
- Education Sector
- Primary, secondary, post-secondary, technical, professional
- Health Care Sector
- Entertainment Sector
Urban Hierarchy - Ranking of urban areas
- Size
- Functional complexity
Rank-Size Relationship - Useful for regions with a long history of urbanization and complex economies
- Size of the city is determined by its relationship with the largest city
- Nth largest city will be 1/n the size of the largest city
- i.e. the 2nd largest city will be ½ the size of the largest city
- Less applicable to developing nations or those with Primate Cities
- Primate City
- A city which is far more than twice the size of any second ranked urban areas or with no second ranked cities
- Developed in Europe during the early industrial period
- Slowly changing in some nations
- Common as a colonial legacy
World Cities - Large urban centers
- Control points for international production, marketing, and finance
Inside the City - Urban Area
- U.S. Census Bureau definition requires a population of greater than 2500 people
- Greece it means over 10,000 people in a metropolitan area
- City
- A multifunctional, nucleated settlement with a central business district and both residential and non-residential land uses.
- Determinations of “city” status depend upon local and national laws and traditions
- Population
- Mayors or city managers
- Letters of patent
- Presence of a cathedral
- Town
- A nucleated settlement that contains a central business district but that is smaller and less functionally complex than a city
- In Britain it meant a fortified settlement
- Suburb
- Subsidiary area, a functionally specialized segment of a larger urban complex, dependent upon a larger urban area
- May develop into independent urban areas over time
- Generally an American creation
- Urbanized Area
- A continuously built-up landscape defined by buildings and population densities with no reference to political boundaries
- May contain a central city, suburbs, surrounding towns, etc…
- Houston and Harris County
- Metropolitan Area
- Large scale, functional entity
- May contain several urbanized areas but operates as an integrated economic whole
Central Business District (CBD) - The center of a city/urban area where economic business and cultural activities are focused.
- Within and surrounded by areas of high land value.
- High population densities and high accessibility
Outside the CBD - Land Uses
- Residential Areas
- High, middle, and lower class areas
- Light manufacturing and wholesale industries
- Heavy manufacturing
- Industrial areas
- Land value and population density decrease as one moves away from the CBD
Models of Urban FormConcentric Zone Model - Ernest Burgess – 1920’s
- Five Zones radiating outward from the CBD
- CBD
- Zone of Transition
- Stagnation, high-density, low-income slums and ghettoes
- Low-class/working-class residential
- Smaller, older homes on smaller lots
- Middle-class residential
- Upper-class residential
- Apply mainly to Chicago (where research was conducted)
- Does not apply to non-North American cities
Sector Model - Homer Hoyt – 1930’s
- Urban areas grow along wedge-shaped sectors
- Focused on transportation arteries
- High-income housing focuses on access to transportation routes
- Surrounded by middle-class residential areas
- Low-income residential areas on outskirts
- Industrial areas focused on transportation lines as well
- Dynamic model
- Based on North American cities
- Application mainly to North and South American Cities
Multiple-Nuclei Model - Chauncy D. Harris and Edward L. Ullman – 1945
- Counters the CBD growth models
- Cities grow from by spreading from several connected nodes of growth
- Peripheral expansion lead to eventual coalescence along lines of juncture
- Developed in Los Angeles
Peripheral Model - Attempt to model changes in North American urban areas since 1945
- Supplements the previous models
- Focuses on the periphery of the city instead of the CBD
- Functions are determined by their relationships with other periphery functions and not the CBD
Changes in Urban Forms – Primarily in North American Cities - Automobile
- Freeway system
- Replaced mass transit
- Allowed massive spatial expansion of urban areas
- Interstate Highway System
- Expanded urban areas/commuting zones out 20 to 30 miles
- 50 to 60 miles in Houston
- Rise in individual home ownership
- Revolution in mortgage practices by the Federal Government
- Own free-standing home in suburbs instead of renting within the city
- Decreased work week
- More time at home
- More time to commute
Suburbanization - Uniform but spatially discontinuous housing developments beyond the boundaries of the older, central cities
- Unfocused sprawl since they were not tied to mass-transit routes
- Began in late 1940’s to early 1950’s
- Slowed during the 1970’s and resumed again in the 1980’s
- Development of the Shopping Mall to provide services to suburban communities
- Relocation of industry to suburban locations
- Follow workforce
- Use of roads meant less dependence upon rail and water transportation
- Flexible truck transportation
- Service industries follow Base Sector
- Edge Cities (Joel Garreau)
- Development of Suburbs into smaller, independent urban areas surrounding the old city and CBD.
- It must have more than five million square feet (465,000 m²) of office space. This is enough to house between 20,000 and 50,000 office workers, as many as some traditional downtowns.
- It must have more than 600,000 square feet (56,000 m²) of retail space, the size of a medium shopping mall. This ensures that the edge city is a center of recreation and commerce as well as office work.
- It must be characterized by more jobs than bedrooms.
- It must be perceived by the population as one place.
- It must have been nothing like a city in 1960.
- Houston Edge Cities
- The FM 1960 Area
- Kingwood
- Sugar Land
- The Woodlands
- Uptown Houston/The Galleria
- Clear Lake City
- Greenway Plaza
- Westchase
- Greenspoint
- Sharpstown
- Megalopolis
- A continuously built-up region with many new centers that compete with the old CBDs.
- Boston to Washington D.C. along the eastern seaboard
- Tokyo
Decline of the Central City - Rise of the Edge Cities and highways
- Wealthier and better educated moved to suburbs
- Poor remained within the central cities
- Loss of revenue from taxes
- Loss of job opportunities
- Federal Housing Acts
- Beginning in the 1940’s
- Low income war housing and slum clearance
- Initially effective and well designed
- Late 1950’s – massive experiments with social engineering
- Massive slums
- Urban Decay
Renewal and Gentrification - Cities have centralized telecommunications links and access
- Access to skilled labor necessary for a Post-Industrial society
- Gentrification
- The rehabilitation of housing in deteriorated city areas by middle and upper income groups
- Tension between poor residents and incoming renovators
- Attractions of short commutes and non-homogenized lives
- Sports and convention facilities
- Smart Growth Programs
- Restrict urban sprawl
- Preserve green zones
- Development of brown and grey fields
Social Areas of Cities - People tend to cluster in areas with people of similar family and social status, and ethnicity
- Family Status
- As distance from CBD increases
- Average age of head-of-household declines
- Size of family increases
- Poverty and Gender in U.S. Cities
- Central cities have more households headed by women than men
- Women constitute the majority of poor individuals
- The majority of the poor live in central cities
- Women and the poor depend more upon public transportation
- Minorities are more likely to use public transportation than whites
- Social Status
- Determined by income, education, occupation, and home value
- Low density residence indicates higher status
- Rise of gated communities to control access to areas to accepted social status
- Ethnicity
- Many times minority ethnic groups tend to cluster together
- Ethnicity tends to follow the patterns of family and social status
Urban Institutional Controls - Non-market controls by local and national governments to control use of land
- Zoning Ordinances
- Building, Health, and Safety Codes
- Designed to minimize incompatibilities
- Provide appropriate locations for public and private land use
- Many times used to exclude “undesirable” uses and people
Western European Cities - Classic examples of Primate Cities
- Compact Form
- Focus on apartments and high residential density
- Lower skyline
- Historical structures of stone
- Pedestrian oriented
- Well developed network of public transportation
- Both within and between cities
- Historical Connections
- Narrow streets and older buildings
- Radial main streets leading from the CBD
- Greenbelts and Parks
Eastern European Cities - Very similar to Western European Cites
- Generally compact with high population density
- Sharp break at edge between urban and rural
- CBD focused on Governmental uses instead of markets
- Micro-Districts for residential population
- 10,000 to 15,000 people
- Generally self-sufficient
- Located adjacent to industrial areas
- Undergoing change
Canadian Cities - A transition form between European and U.S. urban models
- Higher population densities
- Well developed public transportation
- Urban sprawl and roads/streets to accommodate the automobile
- Focus remains on the CBD and not edge cities
Non-Western Cities - Latin American Model is commonly found
- Centered around a Central Business District and a Commercial Spine
- Elite Residential Zone anchored to the CBD and CS
- A Zone of Maturity consists of mainly middle-class housing
- A Zone of In-Situ-Accretion is a mix of middle and low income housing, generally thought of as a transitional area (moving either up on down)
- A Zone of Peripheral Squatter Settlements surrounds the city, made up of the millions of impoverished and unskilled workers and recent migrants to the city
- A center for the Informal Sector (Black Market)
- Outside of government control or enforcement
- Barrios or Favelas
- Squatter Settlements on unused land along highways, rail corridors, and riverbanks. Even poorer then those in the PSS.
- Cultural variations depend upon religions practiced, degree of colonial impact, etc…
