Themes in World Regional Geography Geo100 - Fall 2003 Julie Hwang Lecture #2

Outlines Environmental Geography Population Geography Cultural Geography Political Geography Economic Geography

Population and Settlement

World Population 6 billion humans on Earth Population size by countries: China(1.2 billion) > India(1 billion)… Population density by world regions: East Asia > South Asia… Factors contributing to high density: irrigation, economic activities clustered around cities

Population growth & change in the world regions Rapid growth in the developing world Stabilized in developed countries Population growth/change is caused by natural growth (by birth offset by death) Migration (by in & out-migration)

Demographic indicators RNI (Rate of Natural Increase) Annual growth rate for a country (#birth – #death) / total population Migration is not considered TFR (Total Fertility Rate) Average number of children borne by a statistically average woman

Demographic indicators % population under 15 Indicates rapid population growth Need for nutrition, health care higher in less-developed countries % population over 65 Need for social welfare services higher in more-developed countries

Demographic indicators Population pyramids Population pyramids: show the gender and percentage of the population in specific age cohorts; Diagrammatic representation of the age and sex structure of population. The vertical axis represents age groups – with males on the left and females on the right – and the horizontal axis indicates percentage distribution for each sex. Shows demographic trends, In developing countries, common to have broader base indicating higher fertility; In developed countries, common to have narrower base showing decline in birth rates

Demographic Transition Model How population growth rates change over time? Phase1: Preindustrial high birth & death rate Phase2: Transitional death rate  (<- onset of public health measure) Phase3: Transitional birth rate  (<- aware of advantages of smaller families) Phase4: Industrial low birth & death rate Stage2: decline in death rates <- public health Stage3: decline in birth rates <- industrialization, urbanization

Demographic Transition Model

Migration Patterns Increase in international migration due to globalized economy Move from rural to urban environments due to urbanization What contributes to migration? Push factor: civil strife, political refugee Pull factor: better economic opportunity Informational networks

World Urbanization Currently 46% of world’s population in cities Generally speaking, high urbanization rate is correlated with high degree of industrialization because economic activities are clustered around urban centers. It is predicted that the world will be 60 percent urbanized by the year 2025.

Cities over 10 million Rapid growth in the developing world Slow growth in the developed world The greatest population gains are expected in the large cities of the developing world, such as Lagos, Nigeria; Karachi, Pakistan; and Bombay (Mumbai). In contrast, large cities in the developed world are predicted to grow slowly over the next decades (eg. Tokyo)

Conceptualizing the City Urban primacy Dominates economic, political, and cultural activities within the country Overurbanization urban population grows more quickly than support services such as housing, transportation, waste disposal, and water supply Squatter settlements illegal developments of makeshift housing on land neither owned nor rented by their inhabitants Urban primacy: eg. Mexico City, Bangkok, Cairo Overurbanization: eg. Calcutta Squatter settlement: eg. New Delhi

Example of squatter settlements Because of the massive migration of people to world cities, adequate housing for the rapidly growing population becomes a daunting problem. Picture shows New Delhi

Cultural Coherence and Diversity

Culture Learned, and not innate, behavior Shared, and not individual, behavior “Way of life” Dynamic rather than static Process, not a condition

Spectrum of cultural groups Folk culture shared by self-sufficient rural group Ethnic culture Common ancestry, race, religion, or language Popular culture Primarily urban-based, superficial relationships between people, weaker family structure World culture subset of popular culture, indeterminate nationality, mixed cultural value In the contemporary world, multiple cultural association is quite common Degree of coherence gets diluted as the scale gets bigger

Membership of cultural groups Common to have association with multiple cultural groups eg. Amish young people interacts with popular culture while talking their primary identity from their folk culture

Cultural Collision Cultural imperialism Cultural nationalism Promotes one cultural system at the expense of another (eg. European colonialism) Cultural nationalism As the reaction against cultural imperialism; defends cultural system against diluting forces; promotes national and local cultural values Cultural syncretism or hybridization Blending of forces to form a new, synergistic form of culture

World Languages Based on language families Linguists group languages into language families based on the common ancestral speech (eg. Indo-European family) Language families are subdivided into language branches and groups (subfamilies) based on similar sounds, words, and grammar (eg. English and German) Dialects: individual languages in distinct forms associated with specific regions (eg. Mandarin & Cantonese; English in Britain, North America, Australia) Based on language families

World Religions Universalizing religions Ethnic religions Appeal to all peoples regardless of location or culture (eg. Christianity, Islam, Buddhism) Ethnic religions Identified closely with a specific ethnic, tribal, or national group (eg. Judaism, Hinduism)

World Religions Christianity: 2 billion – Europe, Africa, Latin America, and North America Islam: 1.2 billion – Arabian Peninsula, Some Southeast Asia Buddhism: 300-900 million – Asia; Rather mixed

Geopolitical framework

Geopolitics Describes the link between geography and political activity

State & Nation State Nation political entity with territorial boundaries Nation a large group of people who share cultural elements such as language, religion, tradition, cultural identity

Nation-state congruence Relatively homogenous cultural group with its own political territory Ideal political model; relatively rare (eg. Japan) Multinational state A country that contains different cultural and ethnic groups More common than nation-state (eg. US) Nation without a state Nations lacking recognized, self-governed territory (eg. Palestinians, Kurds, Basques, Catalans)

Example of nation without a state Not all nations or large cultural groups control their own political territories or states. For example, the Kurdish people of Southwest Asia traditionally occupy a large cultural territory that is currently in four different political states: Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Not all nations or large cultural groups control their own political territories or states

Centrifugal & Centripetal forces Centrifugal forces Forces that weaken or divide a state eg. Quebec, Basque Centripetal forces Forces that unite or reinforce a state eg. Germany in the 1990s

Example of Centrifugal & Centripetal forces Cold War

Boundaries Ethnographic boundaries Geometric boundaries Political boundaries that follow cultural traits such as language or religion (eg. European boundaries after WWI) Geometric boundaries Drawn without regard for physical or cultural features (eg. Africa in a colonial era)

Example of ethnographic boundaries WWI When the twentieth century began central Europe was dominated by the German, Austro-Hungarian (or Hapsburg), and Russian empires. Following World War I, these empires were largely replaced by a mosaic of nation-states. After WWI, empires were largely replaced by nation-states.

Example of geometric boundaries This map shows the lack of congruence between ethnic group territory and modern political borders; this often results in civil war, and border wars. The lack of congruence between ethnic boundaries and political borders often results in civil war

Colonialism & Decolonialization Formal establishment of rule over a foreign population Decolonialization Process of a colony’s gaining(regaining) control over its territory and establishing a independent government They are fundamental forces in the shaping of the modern world system

The Colonial World, 1914

Consequences of Colonialism In general, disadvantaged because of a much-reduced resource base, but varies from place to place Continuing exchange of human networks Economic ties between certain imperial powers and their former colonies are still found

International & Supranational organizations International organizations links together two or more states for some specific purpose, but does not affect the sovereignty of each state (eg. UN, OPEC, NATO, ASEAN, NAFTA) Supranational organizations organization of nation-states linked together with a common goal, but which requires each to give up some sovereignty (eg. EU, Arab League)

Economic/Social development

Core-periphery model As a way of understanding increasing uneven development between more/less-developed countries Developed core achieved its wealth primarily by exploiting the periphery, either through more recent economic imperialism Dependence may be structure through the relations of exchange, production between core and periphery

World Economic Core Areas Economic activity is clustered around these core areas while outlying areas are underdeveloped Within most world regions, there are centers of economic activity where manufacturing and business are clustered. Often these are the more prosperous and most urbanized areas within the region. Outlying areas within the region may lie in the shadow of these robust economic core areas, suffering from the consequences of underdevelopment. This economic diversity, both on a global scale and within regions (and even within states), has given rise to the concept of core-periphery interactions. One assumption of this model is that economic cores prosper only by exploiting poorer periphery territories.

Indicators of economic development GNI the value of all final goods and services produced within a country plus net income from abroad Measures the size of economy GNI per capita (at market exchange rate) GNI divided by country’s population GNI per capita at purchasing power parity GNI adjusted for differences in prices and exchange rates Living standards with the local currency PPP: Purchasing Power Parity

GNI per capita at MER GNI per capital at PPP What a nation can buy outside the nation GNI per capital at PPP What a nation can buy inside the nation

Indicators of social development Life expectancy average length of life expected at birth for a hypothetical male or female, as based on national death statistics Under age 5 mortality measure of the number of children who die per 1,000 persons Life expectancy: reflects availability of health services, nutrition, prevalence of disease, accident rates, sanitation, and homicide rates Under age 5 mortality: reflects food availability, health services, and public sanitation

Indicators of social development Adult illiteracy rates percentage of a society’s males and females who cannot read Female labor force participation percentage of a nation’s labor force that is female

Give insights into the social conditions such as health care, sanitation, homocide rate, prevalence of disease…

Sustainable development Concept on limits to development Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations “Intergenerational equity”