CSS Geography Population and Urban Geography Syllabus

In the DTM, what characterises Stage 3 (Late Expanding)?

Birth rates fall (contraception, female education, urbanisation, lower infant mortality) while death rates remain low; population still grows but more slowly.

In the DTM, describe Stage 4 (Low Stationary).

Both birth and death rates are low and fluctuating, so natural increase is low and total population is high and stable.

What defines Stage 5 (Declining) in the five-stage DTM?

Birth rate falls below the death rate, giving a negative natural increase and a slowly declining, ageing population (e.g. Germany, Japan).

State two key limitations/criticisms of the Demographic Transition Model.

It is based on European experience and may not fit all countries; it ignores the role of migration, government policy, and external factors, and does not predict the timescale of transition.

How is population density calculated and in what units?

Population density = total population / total land area, usually expressed as persons per square kilometre.

Distinguish population density from population distribution.

Density is the number of people per unit area (an average); distribution is the pattern of where people are spread (clustered or dispersed) across an area.

Name three physical factors that lead to sparse world population distribution.

Harsh climates (deserts, polar regions), high/rugged mountains, and dense rainforest or infertile/thin soils; also lack of water and poor accessibility.

Name three factors that produce densely populated regions of the world.

Fertile soils and flat lowland plains/river valleys, temperate or favourable climate, and economic opportunity (industry, ports, resources, water supply).

Which three regions contain the greatest concentrations of world population?

East Asia (China), South Asia (India/Pakistan/Bangladesh), and Europe; plus the north-eastern USA, largely on fertile lowlands and coasts.

Define 'overpopulation'.

Overpopulation occurs when the number of people exceeds the resources and technology available to maintain an adequate standard of living, given the area's carrying capacity.

List four consequences or threats of overpopulation.

Food/water shortages and famine, unemployment and poverty, overcrowding and pressure on housing/services, and environmental degradation (deforestation, pollution, resource depletion).

Define 'underpopulation'.

Underpopulation occurs when there are too few people to fully use the resources of an area, so the region could support a larger population at the same standard of living.

List four consequences or threats of underpopulation.

Underused resources, labour and skills shortages, smaller domestic market and lower production, and a high tax/dependency burden as the workforce shrinks and population ages.

Define 'optimum population'.

Optimum population is the number of people which, working with the available resources and technology, produces the highest standard of living (maximum output per person).

What is 'carrying capacity' in population studies?

Carrying capacity is the maximum population that the resources and environment of an area can support sustainably without degradation.

Contrast the Malthusian and Boserup views on population and resources.

Malthus argued population grows geometrically while food grows arithmetically, leading to checks (famine, war); Boserup argued that population pressure stimulates innovation so that 'necessity is the mother of invention' and food supply increases.

Name the four functional zones of Burgess's Concentric Zone Model (centre outward).

1) Central Business District (CBD), 2) zone of transition (industry/twilight), 3) low-class/working-class housing, 4) better residential housing, and 5) the commuter (outer suburban) zone.

What is the central idea of Hoyt's Sector Model of urban structure?

Cities grow in wedge-shaped sectors radiating out from the CBD along transport routes, so similar land uses (e.g. industry or high-class housing) extend outward in sectors rather than rings.

Describe the Harris and Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model.

A city develops around several separate nuclei (not one CBD), each attracting particular activities; similar uses cluster and incompatible uses repel each other, giving a more complex, fragmented pattern.

What are the main characteristics of the Central Business District (CBD)?

The CBD is the commercial/economic heart of a city with the highest land values, tall buildings, shops, offices, high accessibility, high daytime population, and few permanent residents.

State the core idea of Christaller's Central Place Theory.

Settlements function as 'central places' providing goods and services to surrounding areas; they form a hierarchy in which larger, fewer high-order centres are spaced further apart, ideally in hexagonal market areas.

Define 'threshold' and 'range' in Central Place Theory.

Threshold is the minimum population/demand needed to support a good or service; range is the maximum distance people will travel to obtain that good or service.

Distinguish low-order from high-order goods and services.

Low-order goods/services are cheap, frequently bought, with small thresholds and ranges (e.g. bread, newspapers); high-order ones are expensive, infrequently bought, with large thresholds and ranges (e.g. furniture, specialist hospitals).

What does the rank-size rule state about city sizes within a country?

The rank-size rule states that the nth largest city has a population of 1/n that of the largest city (so the 2nd city is half, the 3rd a third, etc. of the largest).

Define a 'primate city' and 'urban primacy'.

A primate city is the largest city that dominates a country and is disproportionately larger than the second city (more than twice its size); urban primacy is the condition where one city dominates the urban hierarchy.

Define 'urbanisation'.

Urbanisation is the increase in the proportion of a country's population living in towns and cities, usually caused by rural-to-urban migration and natural increase in cities.

What is a 'megacity' and a 'conurbation'?

A megacity is an urban area with a population exceeding 10 million; a conurbation is a continuous built-up area formed when neighbouring towns and cities merge through growth.

Define 'counter-urbanisation' and 'suburbanisation'.

Counter-urbanisation is the movement of people from large cities to smaller towns and rural areas; suburbanisation is the outward spread of a city's population and activities to its surrounding suburbs.

What is the urban bid-rent theory's explanation for land-value patterns?

Bid-rent theory states land value and rent are highest at the most accessible point (the CBD) and decline with distance from it, so different land uses outbid one another for the most accessible locations.

Name four common social/economic problems found within urban areas.

Housing shortages and slums/squatter settlements, traffic congestion and pollution, unemployment and poverty, and inadequate services (water, sanitation, waste) with rising crime.

What is a 'squatter settlement' (shanty town) and where do they typically form?

A squatter settlement is an unplanned, often illegal area of self-built housing lacking basic services; they typically form on the edges of, or on marginal land within, rapidly growing cities of developing countries (e.g. Karachi's katchi abadis).