Download Introduction to Human Geography

Intro to Human
Geography
It’s Nature and Perspective
Geographic Questions:
• Where are things located?
• Why?
• How are places related?
• How are places inter-connected?
• How are humans affected by these locations?
“THE WHY OF WHERE!!!”
Definition of Geography
• scientific and systematic study physical & cultural features
of the earth’s surface.
• spatial perspective looking at patterns and distributions
• Invented by Greek scholar: Eratosthenes
-Geo – “Earth”
-graphy – “to write”
• Human (or Cultural) Geography: study of the
spatial differentiation and organization of human
activity on the earth’s surface.
• how we organize space and society
• where & why human activities are located
THE REGIONAL APPROACH
Latin America
• Regional (Latin America, Sub-Saharan
Africa, Africa
Sub-Saharan
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia)
Five Themes of Geography
• Location
• Place
• Region
• Movement
• Human-Environment
Location
Location-position on the earth’s surface
Absolute Location: latitude and longitude; street
address
Relative Location: a way of expressing a location
in relation to another site
Site & Situation
Site-the physical character of a place
Situation– the location of a place relative to other places
Fig. 1-7: Singapore is situated at a key location for international trade.
Place
Place: physical location with physical & cultural attributes
sense of place: infusing a place with meaning and emotion.
Perception
of Place
Where Pennsylvanian
students prefer to live
Where Californian
students prefer to live
The Cultural Landscape
• visible expression of human activity
• natural landscape modified by human activities
• Can also be called the “Built Environment”
Religion and cremation
practices diffuse with
Hindu migrants from
India to Kenya.
Sequent Occupance
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: African, Arab, German,
British, and Indian layers to the city
Apartment in Mumbai, India
Apartment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Spatial analysis: the study of geographic
phenomena on the earth’s surface
- how are things organized on Earth?
- how do they appear on the landscape?
- Why of where? and so what?
the SPATIAL:
1. Distance
2. Accessibility
3. Connectivity
Distance Decay
•interaction between places
diminishes frequency as
distance between them
increases
closer = more interaction
Distance Decay
Friction of distance
Farther people have to travel…less
likely they are to do so.
place utility: a place’s usefulness to
a particular person or group
Accessibility
“How easy or difficult is it to
overcome the friction of
distance?”
Connectivity
•Level of
interaction
•channels of
communication &
transportation
Ex: Telephone Lines, streets,
pipelines, radio, TV, internet
Ullman’s Spatial Model of
Interaction
1. Complementarity:
supply & demand
between places
2. Transferability: ability to acquire item
3. Intervening Opportunity:
alternative locations for activities between
two points
Diffusion
- Dissemination or spread of an idea or innovation
from its hearth to other areas
What prevents diffusion?
- time
-distance decay
- cultural barriers
1. Expansion Diffusion: spreads outward from the heart
a. Contagious
– spreads adjacently
b. Hierarchical
– spreads to linked people
or places first
c. Stimulus
– foreign idea promotes a
local change
Stimulus
Diffusion
Ex:
Because Hindus believe cows are
holy, cows often roam the streets in
villages and towns. The McDonalds
restaurants in India feature veggie
burgers.
2. Relocation Diffusion: permanent movement of
individuals who carry an idea or innovation with them
Paris,
France
Kenya
Spatial Distribution
•elements common to all spatial
distributions :
Density, Dispersion, & Pattern
Density
•The measure of the number or
quantity of anything within a defined
unit of area
Dispersion
•Spread of a phenomenon over an area
•How spread out?
1. Clustered (Agglomerated) = spatially close
together
2. Dispersed (Scattered) = spread out
Pattern
•The geometric arrangement of objects in
space
•Types of Patterns:
Linear, Clustered, & Random
Linear Pattern
•typically depict
houses along a
street or towns
along a railroad
Clustered Pattern
•typically involve
items concentrated
around a single
node
•Ex: Center City with
surrounding suburbs
Random Pattern
•An unstructured
irregular
distribution
Types of Regions
1. Formal (Uniform) region: defined by a
commonality, typically a cultural linkage or
physical characteristic
Ex: German speaking region of Europe
2. Functional (Nodal) region: defined by a set of
social, political, or economic activities or interactions
Ex: an urban area, magazine circulation, radio station,
downtown CBD
3. Perceptual (Vernacular) Region: ideas in our
minds that define an area of “sameness” or
“connectedness.”
Exs:
the South
the Mid-Atlantic
the Middle East
Chinatown
Little Italy
The meanings of regions are often contested. In Montgomery,
Alabama, streets named after Confederate President Jefferson Davis
and Civil Rights leader Rosa Parks intersect.
Region v. Realm
• “Realms” are larger, and often encompass several
regions
Ex:
The “Muslim World”
1.
Globe Grid: based upon latitude-longitude coordinates
latitude lines (parallels) – decrease in length closer to poles
longitude lines (meridians) – converge at the poles
* scale on Earth’s surface is same everywhere
2.
Map Projections: making a flat map of a round surface
* All maps distort the globe grid properties
World Geographic Grid
The world geographic grid consists of meridians of longitude and parallels
of latitude. The prime meridian (0º) passes through Greenwich, England
Cylindrical Projection
Planar Projection
(Azimuthal)
Conic Projection
The Robinson Projection
Two Types of Maps:
Reference Maps
Thematic Maps
- Show locations
- Geographic features
- Absolute locations
- “Tells a story”
- Data attributes
- Pattern, distribution,
movement
- Relative locations/features
Ex: street maps
Reference
Map
Thematic Maps
• Thematic Maps: a map depicting a specific spatial
distribution or statistical variation of abstract objects
in space
TYPES:
Graduated Circle
Dot-Distribution
Isopleth (isolines: weather, topographic maps)
Choropleth (by region: county, state)
Thematic
Map
What story about
median income in
the Washington, DC
area is this map
telling?
Graduated Circle Map
• Uses circles of different
sizes to show the
frequency of
occurrence of a certain
topic
Dot-distribution Map
• A single of specified
number of occurrences
are recorded by a
single dot
Isopleth Map
• Calculation refers to an
areal statistic
• The isoline connects
average values per unit
Examples of topographic maps (shows elevation through contour lines)
Choropleth Map
• Present average
value of the data
studied per
preexisting areal unit
Which is the small-scale map?
City of Edmonton
Neighborhood in Edmonton
Small scale: more area, less
detail
Large scale: less area, more
detail
E. Mental maps (“cognitive” maps)
mental maps: representations of our own
image of the world
Activity Spaces: the places we travel to routinely in
our rounds of daily activity.
– How are activity spaces and mental maps related?
Geographic
Information
System (GIS):
a collection of
computer hardware
and software that
permits storage and
analysis of layers of
spatial data.
Remote Sensing:
a method of
collecting data by
instruments that
are physically
distant from the
area of study.
Scale
- local
- regional
- national
- global
What is occurring across scales provides
context for us to understand a phenomenon.
Scale
Measuring Spatial Interaction
i. Distance Decay (“the friction of distance”)
ii.
The Gravity Model
(size & distance affect interaction)
iii. Movement Biases (distance, direction, & network bias)
distance decay: the decline of activity with increasing
distance from the point of origin
• inverse-square relationship (j-curve)
voluntary migration: people have a
choice to move or stay
reluctant migration: less than fully
voluntary, but not forced
forced migration: imposed relocation by
one group over another causing “refugees”
Refugee Exs.:
- any economic migrant
- 75 million people from Europe to
Americas (1835-1935)
- Indonesia: resettlement from
overcrowded Java
E. Ravenstein’s “Laws of Migration”
1. short distance
2. step by step
3. rural to urban
4. each flow produces a counter flow
5. Most international migrants are young
males
D. Migration Patterns
Step migration: smaller, less extreme moves
Ex.: farm to village—to small town—to major city
Chain migration: an established linkage or chain for future
migrants (creates a “migration field”)
– Migrants provide information, money, place to stay, a job
for other family/friends
Channel migration: clear pathways & travel
routes are established
- Ex.: The Oregon Trail
“Guest Workers”
- have short term work visas
- send remittances to home country
Remittances
• Money sent back to home country by immigrants