REGIONS AND THEMES

(Chapter 1)

Canada and the United States

• Location and size– North America– 20 million square kilometers (7.5 million square

miles)– Arctic to tropics

• Roles in world affairs– Among world’s wealthiest countries– Military dominance, especially United States– Cultural mix and complexity

Canada and United States Compared

• Canada– 9,984,670 km2 (3,855,085

mi2)

– 32,900,000 population

– 3 persons/km2

– $34,610 gross national product per person, purchasing power parity

• United States– 9,826,630 km2

(3,794,066 mi2)

– 302,200,000 population

– 31 persons/km2

– $44,260 gross national product per person, purchasing power parity

“Landscape” to a Geographer

• More than…– Planting trees and flowers (landscaping)– Scenery, as in a painting

• Everything we see outdoors, result of– Natural features– Features added by people– Continuing change through history– Messages and meanings– Competition and contention among groups

Regions

• Any portion of the Earth’s surface with a rationale

• A mental construct, a system of categorization

• Change with– Purpose of the region

– Perspective of the person defining regions

– Time

• A region is what we say it is!

Formal (Uniform or Homogeneous) Regions

• Based on some characteristic that is present throughout the region, whether physical, economic, cultural, political

• Nothing else in the region is necessarily the same throughout

• Defining characteristic may vary in intensity– Core: beginning of the region, most intense

– Domain: surrounding core, still majority feature

– Sphere: gradual tapering toward regional boundary

Nodal (Functional) Regions

• Based on some function, usually political or economic

• Involve movement to and from a node or center, connections between places

• Outer edges, in case of an economic function, may be vague, involving gaps or overlaps with adjoining regions

Perceived (Vernacular)Regions• Based on people’s perception of the world• Vague boundaries• May overlap• Vary with individual, especially in different places

(page 4)

Complex Regions

• Combinations of uniform regions, each defined by a different feature, and nodal regions

• Elements produce distinctive landscapes, therefore regional landscapes

• Variation within regions:– Core: Features most obvious– Margins: Blending with adjacent regions

• Boundaries fuzzy, transitional zones

(page 7)

Regions in This Book

Urbanization

• Definitions– Process of growth of cities

– Proportion of a population living in cities

• Ideal of idyllic rural life versus…

• Reality of urban dominance– 79 % of U.S. population is urban, < 1% on farms

– >79% of Canadians live in cities

City Location

• Site factors (location of the city itself)– Defensible– Water supply– Resources– Break-in-bulk, where goods are transferred

between different modes of transport

• Situation factors (relations with other places)– Trade connections– Access to surrounding hinterland

Economic Bases of Cities: City Functions

• Manufacturing

• Retail and wholesale trade

• Government

• Recreation

• Education, culture

• Transportation

• Multiple functions

Cities Earning a Living

• Basic activities– Brings money into the city from outside

– Necessary to city survival

– Often, but not always, involve manufacturing

• Non-basic activities– Circulation of money within the city

– Satisfaction of residents’ needs

Consequences of City Growth

• Separation of land-use types and population groups– Commerce (downtown, or CBD; suburban centers)– Industrial, warehouse– Residential, segregated by demographic characteristics

(race, life-style, life cycle, income)

• Spreading of cities and sprawl– Loss of farmland– Traffic congestion– Lack of planning coordination in services

Industrialization

• Major stimulator of city growth

• Categories of economic activity:– Primary: Product directly from the earth

– Secondary: Processing raw materials into something useful

– Tertiary: Services

– Quaternary: Information processing

– Quinary: High-level headquarters, government

Reasons for Industrial Location

• Raw materials– Weight-reducing industry (e.g., metal ore processing)– Perishable raw material (e.g., food processing)– Raw materials with limited locations (e.g., minerals)

• Markets– Weight-gaining industries (e.g., soft drinks)– Perishable goods (e.g., newspapers, bakeries, dairies)

• Labor force– Wage levels– Skill levels

Reasons for Industrial Location (continued)

• Investment capital

• Energy resources

• Government policies

• Inertia

• Agglomeration (clustering of like or linked industries)

• Footloose industries: Drawn by amenities

High Mobility

• Reasons for migration– Involuntary

• Forced• Impelled (refugees)

– Voluntary• Push factors• Pull factors, especially economic

• Distance and legal considerations– International migration (between countries)– Domestic migration (within one country)

U.S. Relative Population Change, 1990-2000

(page 12)

Resources

• Agricultural productivity– Suitable climate

– Arable land

– Technology

– Investment capital

• Fossil fuels

• Minerals

• Timber Elizabeth J. Leppman

High Income, High Consumption

• Annual per capita incomes among the world’s highest

• Disposable incomes generate demand, ensure massive consumption

• Retail establishments ubiquitous• U.S. and Canada (5% of the world’s

population) consume 28% of the world’s oil • Implications of high consumption in a finite

environment?• Presence of poverty

U.S. Poverty Rates, 2000

(page 14)

Political Complexity

• Canada– Federation of 10

provinces, 3 territories– Chief of State: Queen

Elizabeth II, represented by Governor-General

– Parliamentary government with a Prime Minister (head of party with most seats in House of Commons); also Senate

• United States– Federation of 50 states– Chief of state: elected

President– Congress consisting of

House of Representatives and Senate

Variety of Cultural Origins

• Native Americans in both countries• United States:

– European– African– Asian– Latin American

• Canada:– European, especially British and French– Asian, other recent immigrants

Environmental Impact

• Impact on environment of– Urbanization– Population growth– Resources– High incomes and consumer lifestyle

• Issues of resource use, conservation, development– Resource supplies– Global climate change