AP Human Geography Units 5-6
Unit 5 Agricultural Geography
Agriculture and rural land-use are fundamental to human geography, shaping landscapes and societies worldwide. This unit explores the evolution of farming practices, from subsistence to commercial agriculture, and examines the diverse agricultural systems that exist globally. The unit delves into key challenges facing modern agriculture, including soil degradation, water scarcity, and climate change impacts. It also highlights sustainable farming practices and the global implications of agricultural trade and policies on food security and rural development.
Influences on Agriculture
Plants require space, light, water, nutrients, and suitable temperature.
Economies of scale – can you make money off of a crop.
Humans can modify the environment to produce more and different crops, but that requires technology which is expensive.
Subsistence agriculture
Crops are produced to eat by the producers of the food.
Types of Agriculture
Intensive Agriculture
Extensive Agriculture
Rural Settlement types
(Clustered)
Survey methods
Major Agricultural Diffusions
Silk Road
Columbian Exchange
Transnational Corporations
Bid-Rent Theory
States that the cost of land is determined by its proximity to the marketplace.
Close to market land is more expensive land and farther from market land is less expensive.
Since land is more expensive close to the market, plots of land are smaller near the market and larger away from the market.
Consequences of Agricultural Practices
Pollution - machinery and chemicals pollute the environment.
Deforestation - trees are cut down for lumber, causes global warming due to lack of trees.
Desertification - putting a lot of pressure on the land and overgrazing it can cause desertification.
Soil salinization - causes there to be too much salt in the soil, making it hard to farm on the land.
Terraced farming - creates steps on hills for flat places to farm, which causes erosion due to water running through hills to make the terraces.
Irrigation systems - take water from the rivers that feed seas, causing seas to shrink and the new land is salinized, so not useful.
Societal effects - changing diets, role of women in agricultural production, economic purpose.
Problems with Contemporary Agriculture
Environmental concerns
Food Production and Consumption Patterns related to Personal Choice
Urban Farming - farming being done in cities.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Organic Farming
Fair Trade Movement
Value-Added Specialty Crops
Locavore / Local-Food Movement
Food Insecurity in More Developed Countries
a. When people can’t be sure if they will have access to food.
b. Food Deserts: no access to fresh fruits of vegetables
c. Food Distribution Systems
Poorer quality transportation networks and infrastructure may prevent food from being transported to the market in time.
Inefficient government systems can prevent food from reaching markets in time.
As cities expand, there is less and less land for farms, making agriculture harder.
Women in Agriculture
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Unit 6: Urbanization
Cities and urban land-use are central to understanding human geography. This unit explores how cities develop, function, and impact society. It covers urban structures, planning strategies, and challenges faced by modern cities worldwide. Key concepts include urbanization, urban hierarchy, and models of urban structure. The unit also examines urban planning, sustainable development, and global urban trends. Case studies highlight diverse urban experiences across different regions and cultures.
Urban vs Suburban vs Rural
Urban - area with high concentration of people that has a lot of development like buildings, offices, shops, etc.
Sub-urban - residential areas near urban places (cities)
Rural - areas with low concentration of people, remote areas, dispersed settlements
Settlement - a place with a permanent human population, places within the Ecumene
Urbanization
Suburbanization
After 1945 when WW2 ended, Suburbanization started.
Middle Class could afford to move to outskirts of cities.
Middle Class got cars so they could drive from their suburban home to work in cities.
Since people now had cars, they also now needed roads.
The Interstate Highway Act created roads around the country.
Urbanization
Caused by neolithic revolution where people could settle down and farm food:
Later on: 2nd agricultural revolution increased urbanization again by sending people off the farm to look for jobs in the cities.
Hearths of urbanization:
Fertile crescent
Southeast Asia
East Asia
Central America
Sub-Saharan Africa
Racial tensions that caused Suburbanization
African Americans move to the north to find jobs in cities.
Whites leave city centers and move to the suburbs due to racial tensions with African Americans
Called white flight.
Caused suburbs to expand and increased population density outside of cities
Caused suburbs to get more city funding and less funding for city centers due to racial discrimination.
Reurbanization / Urban renewal / Gentrification
Exurbanization - People leave urban areas for rural areas to build big mansions.
City Classifications
City: Large area of dense human population with defined boundaries
Metropolitan Area / Metropolis
Micropolitan Area
Megacities - cities with a population of 10 million or higher
Metacities - cities with a population of 20 million or higher
Previously, these large city classifications were only located in core countries, but in modern times, even semi-periphery and periphery countries have some of them.
Sail Wagon Epoch: 1790-1830
Water transportation important
Not much interaction between cities due to hard communication
Iron Horse Epoch: 1830-1870
Steam engine and boat invention
Cities move from coasts to rivers and canals.
Railroads come into existence.
Cities more connected
Steal Rail Epoch: 1870-1920
Trans-continental railroad
Places way more interconnected
Cities start to develop more inland, where the railroad it
Auto-Air-Amenity Epoch: 1920-1970
Planes and automobiles connect places even more for cheaper.
High Technology Epoch: 1970 onwards
Global interconnection
Borchert didn’t make this, it was added later.
Decline of some cities
As new transportation methods got made, cities that didn’t fit into the new methods were no longer big cities and those that were around the new transportation methods became bigger.
Borchert’s Model of Urban Evolution
Satellite cities “orbit” the big city, as closer cities are more connected.
People like bigger cities more because more stuff
The larger the city, the greater the attraction of people to the city
Zipf’s Law / Rank-Size Rule
Population of a city is inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy.
Primate Cities Rule
Primate cities are the most dominant city in the country.
High threshold goods and services might only be present in the main city, but lower threshold goods and services might be present in smaller central places, like towns, market towns, or villages.
Central Place Theory
Threshold: The number of people needed before building a new part of settlement.
Range of a service: The distance someone is willing to travel to get to goods and services.
A central place is a place where people go to get goods and services.
The larger the central place, the more goods they get.
Global / World Cities
Cities can have influence way outside national borders
International cities that matter for business, banking, organizations
Megalopolis/ Conurbations
Large supercities made from a fusion of nearby large cities that act together as one major city.
Conurbation - the process of cities growing and fusing to form a megalopolis.
US City Models
Urban Realms Model
Peripheral Model
Cycle of poverty
Factory workers only have a high school education usually.
Have a skill set that can’t transfer to another job.
People in inner city have trouble finding jobs.
Their children grow up in poverty and also get a worse education due to inner city getting less funding.
The children have the same situation as the parents.
The key to get out of the cycle is to get a higher education, but that costs a lot of money.
Urban Decay
Brownfields : Areas where there used to be some form of development.
Businesses and banks and other stuff stays in the CBD, but much less in the CBD than before.
Lots of poverty in zone of transition and lower-class housing zone
Rich and middle-class suburbs grow as factories close down and move to the periphery of the city.
World City Models
African City Model
Asian City Model
Local Regulations on Land Use
a. Zoning Ordinances: Have Residential, Commercial, and Industrial zones.
b. Promote Urban Planning: process of promoting growth and controlling change in land use.
c. Residential Zones
Where people live and organize the density and size of houses in specific residential zones.
● Because of this, certain zones are more favorable to certain people based on their wants and needs
● This causes less diversity in residential zones
d. Inner City
The residential zone surrounding the CBD.
Has the highest population density with apartments and townhouses
Residential Density Gradient - places away from the CBD have lower density housing.
Suburban Residential Zones - characterized by single family homes.
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