Human Geography Emergency Remote Learning Resources Urbanization Unit Part 2 (Services & Cities)

This section will include the resources for the States & Services section of the Urbanization unit

For the Key Issue "Where Are States Distributed? “Old School” geography often required you to memorize countries and their capitals. Human geographers now emphasize a thematic approach. We are concerned with the location of activities in the world, the reasons for spatial distributions, and the significance of those arrangements. Despite this change in emphasis, you still need to know the locations of countries. Without such knowledge, you lack a basic frame of reference—knowing where things are. From the 90's (including countries that don't exist anymore):



Take a look at the United Nations, then three examples of places that test the definition of a state Korea (North and South), China (Taiwan/Chinese Taipei), and Western Sahara (Sahrawi Republic) and finally we'll examine Arctic sovereignty. You'll have some questions to answer for me





Services account for more than two-thirds of GDP in most developed countries, compared to less than one-half in most developing countries. Services cluster in developed countries because more people who can buy services live there. The service sector of the economy is subdivided into three types: consumer services, business services, and public services and each of these sectors is divided into several major sub sectors. So our first key issue is "Where Are Services Distributed"? You'll have a few questions to answer for me:

1. Define consumer services
2. What are the four main types of consumer services, and provide an example of each
3. Define business services
4. What are the three types of business services, and provide an example of each
5. In most communities, the largest employers other than the local government are consumer services. What are the largest consumer services in the Comox Valley? (You can Google “largest employers Courtenay or Comox Valley” to find out.)

For the Key Issue "Where Are Consumer Services Distributed"? Generally speaking, we spend as little time and effort as possible obtaining consumer services and therefore go to the nearest place that fulfills our needs. We travel greater distances only if the price is much lower or if the item is unavailable locally. To that end we'll look at Central Place Theory, the Basic Central Place Model, market areas, market area analysis, range of service, threshold of service and the gravity model (of services). Look at the rank-size rule and the primate city rule (in terms of services). Lastly you'll have a few questions to work on for me.


For the key issue "Where Are Business Services Distributed"? examine urban settlements known as global cities (also called world cities) that play an especially important role in global business services. Global cities are most closely integrated into the global economic system because they are at the center of the flow of information and capital. Business services (including financial institutions, headquarters of large corporations, and lawyers, accountants, and other professional services) concentrate in disproportionately large numbers in global cities. In the global economy, developing countries specialize in two distinctive types of business services: offshore financial services and back-office functions. These businesses typically located in developing countries for a number of reasons, including the presence of supportive laws, weak regulations, and low-wage workers. So a couple of videos and then questions for me

1. Explain why business services are disproportionately concentrated in global cities.
2. Why have LDC’s have been able to attract back offices?
3. Describe the type of job you’re hoping to start after college. Is it a service? What does this, along with your knowledge of where service industry jobs are clustered, tell you about the range of service jobs?
4. Would it be difficult to do well at the job you’ve described above if you lived in a very small town? Use the concepts of threshold, range, and central place theory to describe why high-paying jobs are easier to find in large cities

For the key issue "Why Do Services Cluster in Settlements"? we generally find that most services are clustered in settlements. Rural settlements are centers for agriculture and provide a small number of services; urban settlements are centers for consumer and business services. One-half of the people in the world currently live in a rural settlement, and the other half in an urban settlement. We'll look at clustered (circular and linear) and dispersed rural settlements and a brief history of cities:


The process by which the populations of urban settlements grow is known as urbanization. Urbanization has two dimensions: an increase in the percentage of people living in urban settlements and an increase in the number of people living urban settlements. These two factors have different global distributions and occur for different reasons. So, Vancouver?


Would you live in the downtown of a city or out in the suburbs?


Lastly questions...

1. How are strips of land allocated in a clustered rural settlement? 
2. In a linear rural settlement, why are settlements clustered around roads and/or rivers?
3. What early structures and permanent man-made features were associated with early public services?
4. What early structures and permanent man-made features were associated with early business services?
5. Why did large urban centers collapse with the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century CE?
6. Explain the difference between number or people living in large cities and the percentage of people living in large cities as it relates to MDCs and LDCs.
7. Present the reasoning of a person who chooses to live downtown, near the central business district (CBD). Answer as though you’re explaining to a friend why you chose to live there. Reference concepts from the note package & text in your answer. 
8. Now present the reasoning of a person who chooses to live in the suburbs while they work in the city. Again, answer as though you’re explaining your decision to a friend and reference concepts from the note package & text.

For the Key Issue, "Why Do Services Cluster Downtown"? consider what is "downtown"... generally it is the best-known and the most visually distinctive area of most cities. It is usually one of the oldest districts in a city, often the site of the original settlement. The central business district (CBD) is the core of the city where many services cluster. Public, Business and Commercial services are attracted to the CBD because of its accessibility and density. Try to examine North American and non North American downtown cores.




For the key question "Where Are People Distributed Within Urban Areas"? Look at three North American models of urban development: The concentric zone model; the sector model; and the multiple nuclei model. You will need to annotate information about the three models...so use the video below to help



I'll also have you look at the differences between North American, European and Latin American city development.

For Latin American city models, the "elite spine" and squatter settlements check out:





You have some questions to complete for me:

1. Describe the elite spine sector developed in Latin American cities.
2. What are the causes of squatter settlement?
3. Define squatter settlements.
4. Describe services and amenities in a typical squatter settlement.
5. Cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America resemble European cities in their structure.  This is not a coincidence because….
6. Colonial cities often contained a new “European sector” to the side of the pre-colonial city.  Contrast their various elements in the table provided.

For the Key Issue "Why Are Urban Areas Expanding"? Try to understand urban areas, census metropolitan areas, annexation, sub-urbanization, sprawl, smart growth and transportation into and out of city cores.





You have some questions to answer for me:

1. What is required before an area can be annexed by a city?
2. In the past, why did peripheral areas desire annexation? What has changed?
3. What is meant by the statement: the “periphery of U.S. cities looks like Swiss cheese”?
4. What has prevented the peripheries of European cities from looking like Swiss cheese?
5. What is smart growth?
6. List four ways demand for congested roads is being reduced
7. List four ways in which public transportation is better than an automobile.

Finally, for the Key Issue, "Why Do Cities Face Challenges"? Our focus will be on the division between the downtown CBD (Central Business District) and the suburban residential neighbourhoods...using Vancouver as an example. Look at "filtering" (and SROs in Vancouver), public housing, gentrification and the Downtown Eastside (DTES). For help with your questions look at the following sites and videos:
The people of the Downtown Eastside
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside changing with development
City of Vancouver Downtown Eastside Plan
Welcome to Hell: A walk through the Downtown Eastside
Vice: Downtown Eastside