AP Human Geography
Unit VII. Cities and Urban Land Use
Key Terms/Concepts to Know
1. Urbanization (definition)
2. Social definitions of urbanization (Louis Wirth: size, density, and social
heterogeneity)
3. Physical/legal definition (city, metropolitan area, Metropolitan Statistical Areas
(MSAs), Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (CMSAs))
4. Site and situation with respect to city location
5. Origin and evolution of cities
6. Colonial cites (gateway cities)
7. Industrial era city
8. Auto-dominated city
9. Borchert and the American city
10. Pull factors of the city (since industrialization)
11. Pull factors for Least Developed Counties (LDC) cities vs. More Developed
Countries (MDC) cities
12. The urban hierarchy
13. Rank-size rule & primate cities
14. World cities
15. Linkages between world cites
16. Distribution of world cities
17. Changes in the world’s largest cities (1800, 1900, 1950, today)
18. Mega cities (positives/negatives)
19. Mega cites in More Developed Countries (MDCs) vs. Least Developed Counties
(LDC)
20. Squatter settlements (different names around the world)
21. Gateway cities
22. Central Place Theory (Christaller)
23. Range and threshold
24. Economic base of settlements
25. Multiplier effect
26. The character and function of an industrial city
27. Role of transportation systems and urban growth
28. Decline of industrial cities in North America and Europe
29. Rise of sunbelt cities
30. Process of deterioration and decline of cities
31. Blockbusting
32. Redlining
33. Filtering
34. Gentrification
35. Changing population pyramids of neighborhoods
36. The Post-industrial city
37. Festival market places and tourism
