1. Regions and Regions Mapping
AP Human Geography
Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives

2. Pick up a blank word map and get out your Site/Situation HW
For today, 09/02

3. Functional (Nodal) Regions
area organized around a “node” or focal point
Trait central point; diminishes as move outward
Interactions between core & hinterland
Port, bus hub, Amazon fulfillment center
School districts, voting precincts
Football, TV, or radio reception areas

5. Functional (Nodal) Region
Definition: area organized around a node or focal point.
Explanation: The characteristic chosen to define a functional region dominates at a central focus or node and diminishes in importance outward. The region is tied to the central point by transportation or communication systems or by economic or functional associations.
Example: The reception area of a radio station is an example of a functional region. The station’s signal is strongest at the center of its service area and the signal gets weaker as you increase your distance from the center. Similarly, a department store attracts fewer customers from longer distances – as these customers will choose to shop elsewhere.
Radio stations in the U.S.

6. Formal (Homogeneous) Regions
Area in which everyone shares in common 1 or more distinctive characteristics

7. Formal Regions Examples: States, provinces, countries, cities
Area of town w/ the wealthiest people
Sahara Desert
Area of a state w/ the most Swahili speakers
Mountain ranges
Often “nest” inside each other: City of League City, in Galveston County, in the state of Texas, part of the United States, a piece of North America, Northern Hemisphere, Milky Way, etc. etc.

8. Hann Human Geog Fall 2015

9. Formal (Uniform) Region
Definition: area where everyone shares in common one or more distinctive characteristics.
Explanation: some formal regions share a characteristic with equal intensity, while in others the characteristic is predominant, not universal. The shared feature could be cultural, like a common language; economic, like the production of a particular crop; or physical, like climate.
Example: Montana is an example of a formal region, characterized with equal intensity throughout the state by a government that passes laws, collects taxes, and issues license plates. The U.S. Gulf Coast is another example, due to its shared climate and economic activities.

10. Vernacular (Perceptual) Regions
place people believe exists as part of a/their cultural identity
“The South”
“The Midwest”
“Dixie”
“The Sunbelt”
Mental map & perception

13. Perceptual (Vernacular) Region
Definition: an area that people believe to exist as part of their cultural identity.
Explanation: Vernacular regions emerge from people’s informal sense of place rather than from geographic models. A useful way to identify a perceptual region is to have someone draw a mental map – an internal representation of Earth’s surface. A mental map depicts what an individual knows about a place, containing personal impressions of what is in the place and where the place is located.
Example: Americans refer to the South as a place with environmental, cultural, and economic features perceived to be quite distinctive from the rest of the U.S. However, what one perceives to the South may be different from someone else’s perception of the South.
Perceived regions of the U.S.

14. Which kind of region?
Functional Formal Vernacular

15. Functional Formal Vernacular

16. Functional Formal Vernacular
Hann Human Geog Fall 2015

17. Functional Formal Vernacular
Functional Formal Vernacular

18. Functional Formal Vernacular

19. Functional Formal Vernacular

20. Functional Formal Vernacular

21. Functional Formal Vernacular

22. Color, label and/or create a key:
(1.) Anglo America (10.) South Asia (2.) Latin America (11.) East Asia (3.) Western Europe (12.) Central Asia (4.) Eastern Europe (13.) Southeast Asia (5.) West Africa (14.) Russian Federation (6.) Central Africa (15.) Australia (7.) East Africa (8.) Southern Africa (9.) Middle East and North Africa

23. Credits Dr. D. Hahn, Kansas State University