Unit VII. Cities & Urban Land Use (13-17%)
In AP Human Geography, unit 7 covers the development of cities. The following guide will be updated periodically with hyperlinks to excellent resources. As you are reviewing for this unit, focus on the key concepts!
Unit 7 Summary
The following summary is from AMSCO AP Human Geography:
Cities and the suburbs around them are constantly changing--in how they are laid out, how they work, and how large they are. One of the most basic questions geographers study is why people move into or out of various parts of urban areas.
Geographers create models to show the distribution and size of cities. They identify patterns that help explain why cities grow to various sizes and how people in different cities are connected to each other. Other models help geographers analyze how cities are organized and develop. Cities generally have zones for commerce, housing, and other functions.
People express their attitudes and values through the landscapes they build and how they organize social spaces. The choices people make, such as how closely to live next to other people and where to build an airport or how much to plan for the future, all reflect what they consider important. Large concentrations of people can produce both great opportunities for progress and great challenges. Some challenges result from decline, such as the movement of industry out of cities. Other result from sustainability, such as how to keep air and water clean.
Unit 7 Essential Questions
- In what ways do geographers study and understand the growth and importance of cities?
- How do geographers describe and analyze the structures and functions of cities?
- What are the challenges facing cities around the world, and how are cities responding to these challenges?
Models to Know from Unit 7
STUDY TIP:The models will appear all over the exam, in both multiple choice and FRQs. You should be able to identify each one from a description or image, apply them to examples, and use them in your writing.
- Christaller’s Central Place Theory
- Burgess’ Concentric Zone Model
- Gravity Model
- Hoyt’s Sector Model
- Zipf’s Rank Size Rule
- Harris & Ullman’s Multiple Nuclei Model
- Griffin & Ford’s Latin American City Model
- Borchert’s Evolution of the American Urban System
- Bid-Rent Curve
⚡ Watch: AP Human Geography - Urban Models and Hierarchy of Cities
Past FRQs from Unit 7
STUDY TIP:Content from the this unit has appeared on the FRQs nine times since 2001. Take a look at these questions before you review the key concepts & vocabulary below to get a sense of how you will be assessed. Then, come back to these later and practice writing as many as you can!
2017 - Question 1: Mixed Use Development and New Urbanism
2013 - Question 3: Influence of transportation model on urban growth patterns
2011 - Question 1: Primate Cities/Rank Size Rule
2009 - Question 2: Squatter Settlements in LDCs
2005 - Question 3: Urban Revival
2004 - Question 3: Urban population/demographic structure
2002 - Question 3: Urban population patterns: Female Households
2001 - Question 2: Development of the Suburbs
Unit 7 Key Concepts & Course Outline
*The following outline was adapted from the AP® Human Geography Course Description as published by College Board in 2015 found here. This outline reflects the most recent revisions to the course.
Definitions of urbanism
Origin and evolution of cities
Historical patterns of urbanization
Rural-urban migration and urban growth
Global cities and megacities
Models of urban systems
Functional character of contemporary cities
Changing employment mix
Changing demographic and social structures
Built environment and social space
Comparative models of internal city structure
- Transportation and infrastructure
- Political organization of urban areas
- Urban planning and design
- Patterns of race, ethnicity, gender, and class
- Uneven development, ghettoization, and gentrification
- Impacts of suburbanization and edge cities
⚡ Watch: AP Human Geography - and Sustainability and Challenges to Sustainable Cities
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List of Concepts & Vocabulary from Unit 7
STUDY TIP:These are the concepts and vocabulary from unit 7 that most commonly appear on the exam. Create a quizlet deck to make sure you are familiar with these terms!
Deep breath. This unit has the most terms to know! ????
Agglomeration
- Barriadas
- Bid-rent theory
- Blockbusting
- CBD (central business district)
- Census tract
- Centrality
- Centralization
- Central-place theory
- Cityscapes
- Colonial city
- Commercialization
- Commuter zone
- Concentric zone model
- Counterurbanization
- Decentralization
- Deindustrialization
- Economic base (basic/nonbasic)
- Edge city
- Emerging cities
- Employment structure
- Entrepôt
- Ethnic neighborhood
- Favela
- Festival landscape
- Gateway city
- Gentrification
- Ghetto
- Globalization
- Great cities
- High-tech corridors
- Hinterland
- Hydraulic civilization
- Indigenous city
- Infrastructure
- Inner city
- Invasion and succession
- Lateral commuting
- Medieval cities
- Megacities
- Megalopolis/conurbation
- Metropolitan area
- Multiple nuclei model
- Multiplier effect
- Neighborhood
- Office park
- Peak land value intersection
- Planned communities
- Postindustrial city
- Postmodern urban landscape
- Primate city
- Racial steering
- Rank-size rule
- Redlining
- Restrictive covenants
- Sector model
- Segregation
- Settlement form (nucleated, dispersed, elongated)
- Shopping mall
- Site/situation
- Slum
- Social structure
- Specialization
- Squatter settlement
- Street pattern (grid, dendritic; access, control)
- Suburb
- Suburbanization
- Symbolic landscape
- Tenement
- Threshold/range
- Town
- Underclass
- Underemployment
- Urban growth rate
- Urban function
- Urban hearth area
- Urban heat island
- Urban hierarchy
- Urban hydrology
- Urban morphology
- Urbanization
- Urbanized population
- World city
- Zone in transition
- Zoning
