Site & Situation: Key Factors in Urban Dev. for AP Geo Exam, Study notes of Human Geography

Download Site & Situation: Key Factors in Urban Dev. for AP Geo Exam and more Study notes Human Geography in PDF only on Docsity! Crash Course Review: Site and Situation Almost half of the world’s population live in cities, and the urban population is growing much faster than the rural population. This mass migrating into cities and urban areas is a good reason for you to know about urban dynamics. It is a fact that the form, size, and function of urban settlements is always changing. The CollegeBoard wants you to know that there are factors that initiate and drive both urbanization and suburbanization. Two of those factors are site and situation. Site and situation influence the origin, function, and growth of cities and is an important concept to understand when you study cities and urban land use for the AP Human Geography Exam. This study guide will explain the difference between site and situation in the context of AP Human Geography. The Nature and Function of Cities Urban settlements date back more than 5,000 years. You will find the world’s first cities in Mesopotamia and Egypt, China, and Meso-America (modern-day Mexico). Why did cities first develop in those areas? There was a combination of factors like agricultural surplus, access to a water source, increasing population, defense, religion, and trade. The center of every advanced civilization is the city. The city acts as the hub of a geographic region or area and is the agent for political, economic and social activities. The larger the city becomes, the more it serves as a powerful force within its sphere of influence. There is a myriad of functions that the city provides its residents. Those functions include transportation, communication, retail and wholesale operations, political, medical, safety, defense, legal and financial services. A city does not operate independently but relies on other cities within the region, and often has a particular role or purpose, within that region. Almost all cities were well planned out before being built, taking into account two crucial locational aspects. Those aspects were site and situation; two terms that are important in the study of geography. What is Site and Situation in AP Human Geography The origin, function, and growth of a particular settlement depend upon both its site, as well as its situation. Settlements can be rural, a small village, for example, with a small population, or urban, as a large city with a population in tens of millions. Site and situation can be confusing, even to those familiar with human geography. This AP Human Geography crash course will explain the differences between site and situation to make it clearer for you when you see them as either a multiple-choice or FRQ on the AP Human Geography Exam. What is Site? Site – The exact placement of a settlement on the Earth. If you know its GPS coordinates, you can find it on your smartphone. Cities are part of the urban hierarchy. Where they stand in, the hierarchy depends on many factors: population, the number of services, and its sphere of influence. For purposes of this study guide, and the AP Human Geography Exam, we will be discussing urban settlements or cities. A city’s site refers to the actual physical attributes of the place it occupies. The land could be flat or hilly. It could lie on a river or a lake. It could have a deep water port. It could have obstacles for expansion like ridges or marshes. These are conditions that people consider when choosing the site of a city if those conditions are favorable for living. Cities with potential for growth have the advantage of a favorable site. Those favorable conditions would be access to a plentiful/potable water source, material for building homes and businesses, an abundant source of fuel for energy, natural barriers to defend the city against enemies and mother nature, climate, flora/fauna, and condition of the soil. You must also consider the ability to trade when choosing a site for a city. Bodies of water were vital to trade in preindustrial times to allow trade through their ports. Most of the world’s largest cities were settled on rivers, particularly in the location where they reach the ocean or sea. Many times, this was the first point that explorers landed. For example, the site of Sydney, Australia, took advantage of the superior, natural harbor, favorable for trade, and surrounding arable farmland. Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem were built on hilltops because they were a natural barrier for the defense of the city. History shows us that if these conditions are favorable for living, settlements develop and grow into major cities like New York and Paris. Paris was founded on an island in the Seine River. This site could be easily defended and where crossing the Seine was frequent. When the settlement on this site began was probably during pre- Roman times, but it functioned as a Roman outpost for 2000 years. For many centuries, this favorable defense aspect continued to be vital to the growth of Paris, because the central government