AP Human Geography September 19, 2012

AP Human Geography A class that’s not a class Wednesday nights 6:30 – 8:30pm The value of attendance

AP Human Geography AP Exam ($87) Friday, May Multiple Choice Q’s in 60 minutes 3 Free Response Essays in 75 minutes

AP Human Geography Our class will cover the following topics: – The Nature & Perspectives of Geography – Human Populations – Cultural Patterns & Processes – Political Organizations of Space – Agriculture and Rural Land Use – Industrialization and Economic Development – Cities & Urban Land Use

The Nature & Perspective of Geography What the study of geography includes Key concepts (location, space, place, scale…) Geographical skills Geographic technology (GIS, Remote sensing, GPS) Geographical data

Human Populations Analyzing human populations from a geographic perspective Population growth & decline over time Population movements and migrations

Cultural Patterns & Processes Cultural regions Cultural differences (language, religion, ethnicity, gender) Cultural landscapes & identity

Political Organizations of Space Territorial dimensions of politics Evolution of the contemporary political pattern Changes and challenges of political-territorial arrangements (war)

Agriculture and Rural Land Use Development and diffusion of agriculture Major agricultural production regions Rural land use and settlement Modern commercial agriculture

Industrial and Economic Development Growth and diffusion of industrialization Contemporary patterns and impacts of industrialization

Cities & Urban land use Development of cities Models of urban systems Models of city structure Built environment and social space

The cool part of geography We study geography to build an understanding of how people and cultures from different regions interact and impact each other. We also study geography to challenge and test our conceptions of how the world is developing.

Human Geo: Central Concepts Space (the final frontier) – The geographic/geometric space that objects on the earth’s surface take up. – The earth’s spatial surface Place – An area of bounded space that has human importance – Places often get toponyms (names) – Regions are a type of place that are discussed greatly in geography

Human Geo: Central Concepts Scale – The relationship of an object or place to the earth as a whole. – Map scale: ratio of distance on a map to distance in the real world – Relative scale: (scale of analysis) the level of aggregation being considered

Human Geo: Central Concepts Regions – There are many types of regions, and a single place can exist in several regions simultaneously. – Regions take on three forms: Formal regions Functional regions Vernacular regions

Human Geo: Central Concepts Formal Regions – An area of bounded space that possesses some homogeneous characteristic or uniformity. In other words: across the region there is at least one thing that is the same everywhere within the regional boundary – Homogenous characters could be: language, food, architecture, climate, ethnicity, religion

Human Geo: Central Concepts Functional Regions – Also called ‘nodal regions’: areas that have a central place (or node) that is a focus or point of origin that expresses some practical purpose – Types of functional regions include: market areas such as those for professional sports teams.

Human Geo: Central Concepts Vernacular Regions – Based upon the perception or collective mental map of the region’s residents. – These regions are understood by a society or cultural group and would be difficult to place formal boundaries on.