4 Traditions of Geography
- earth science: physical
- human environment
- area studies: interest in place and character
- locational/spatial: economic geography, urban/social systems
absolute distance
spatial separation between two points by standard unit
relative distance
focuses on time distance rather than linear
transportation costs
distance traveled = or not = transportation costs
terminal costs
per trip basis
line-haul costs
per mile basis
5 modes of transportation
- water
- rail
- truck/road
- air
- pipeline
break-and-bulk point
A location where transfer is possible from one mode of transportation to another.
Containerization
The transporting of goods in standard-sized shipping containers
intermodal transfers in water and land
Just-in-time delivery
Shipment of parts and materials to arrive at a factory moments before they are needed
costs savings by eliminating on-site storage space
agglomeration
spatial concentration of people and activities for mutual benefit
economic advantages and benefits gained by close proximity to people and businesses (agglomeration economies)
economies of scale
the economic advantage of producing a good at a large scale
internal scale economies
increasing rates of the output of a single firm (inverse relationship)
types of internal scale economies
1) division of labor
2) indivisible capitalism
3) research and development
external scale economies
the economic advantages arising from the size of an industry or group of firms
2 classes of agglomeration economies
1) urbanization economies
- benefits receives by broad diversity of firms and households clustered in an urban area
- shared infrastructure
- juxtaposition economies: among interconnected businesses
2) localization economies
- benefits received by firms i
benefits of urbanization
- increase in city size = productivity of economic activity
- production increases with density
- diversity promotes rapid growth
- greater variety of goods and services
spatial interaction
the movement of peoples, ideas, and commodities between different places
3 bases of interaction
1) complementarity: mutual benefits between origin and destination
2) transferability: ease of movement of people, goods, info and money; common language as transferability for migrants; absolute distance as a class inverse indicator (=distance decay) vs.
push/pull factors of migration
economic, political, cultural, environmental
gravity model of interaction
math model designed to predict volume of interaction between a pair of places
migration field
areas that dominate a locale's in and out migration patterns
in-migration
a set of places that the node receives migrants from
out migration
a set of places that the node sends migrants to
laws of migration by ravenstein
1) most moves occur short distance (if longer distance, large cities)
2) migration occurs by stages (step migration)
3) stream & counter-stream (total movement>net migration)
4) urban/rural differences
5) age differences
6) tech change
7) economic motives
spatial diffusion
process of spatial spread by which a concept or behavior moves from its point of origin to new areas
4 types of diffusion
1. Relocation
2. Expansion
3. Hierarchical
4. Contagious
s shaped curve
innovation, diffusion, adaption, termination
natural resources
naturally occurring materials humans perceive to be beneficial to social and economic well being
must be known to be used
renewable vs non-renewable
renewable resourses
regenerated in nature as fast as the resources are used by humans
- perpetual resources: inexhaustible and indestructible
- potentially renewable: renewable if used carefully
demographic transition
...
Malthus on Overpopulation
pop. increased geometrically, food production increased arithmically
criticism: population control, starvation, war, malnutrition, biotech, GMO, government intervention