ch 1, key issue 3

Space Distribution of FeaturesAnd

Connections Between Places

Chapter 1

Key 3

I Distribution

A. Distribution is the arrangement of stuff in space. There are three major types of distribution

1. Density

2. Concentration

3. Pattern

Density

B. Density is the frequency with which something occurs in Space.

1. Arithmetic density is the total number of things in a given space (this is the one we talk about most)

2. Physiological density is the number of people per arable land (land good for farming)

3. Agricultural density is the number of farmers per arable land

Distribution

C. Concentration is how things are spread out over a given space

1. Clustered is if things are all packed close together

2. Dispersed if they are far apart.

Pattern

D. Pattern is the geometric arrangements of object in space. (how stuff is arranged)

II Gender and Ethnic Diversity in Space

A. Men and Women have different activity patterns.

B. Often we find patterns in the distribution of different ethnic groups. Where they live in cities or countries.

III Diffusion

A.Diffusion is the process in which innovations spread

B.There are two major types of diffusion. Expansion and relocation

C.Expansion diffusion is the spread of an Item which remains important at the source. There are three types of expansion diffusion

1. Contagiousdiffusion occurs through direct contact and spreads like a disease. As more people are “infected” the numbers grow. Distance decay may factor into the spread of an item and the further away from the source, the longer it will take to reach it.

• Remember homecoming, AIDs prevention, diseases. Sometimes an idea or product will start out as some other kind of diffusion and then become contagious diffusion (Rubik’s Cube, iPad). The diffusion is like a spiral. It just moves out from the hearth.

• Other examples are beanie babies, maybe tulipmania, Taoism in China (but not beyond), Islam and other religions (Southern Baptist, LDS)

• Hierarchical diffusion occurs when items spread through a line of authority or importance. The speed of diffusion may be increased through the space-time compression where distant areas can instantly share information. Technology has made the globalization of culture possible.

• Remember Rubiks Cube and iPads

• Tulipmania is a possible example of hierarchical diffusion. Pampered Chef, Service Dogs, Main Street Trend, Origins of Money (currency), hairdos, fashion clothing are also examples.

• Stimulus diffusion occurs when the basic idea of a culture trait stimulates the adoption of a similar trait that is not exactly like the original trait.

• Remember the computer mouse, McDonald’s lamb burgers, and Napster.

• Other examples are Cherokee Writing, Writing in general, and AIDs.

D. Relocation Diffusion happens when a person or group of people physically carries cultural traits to new locations and those traits are adopted by the people at the new location.

Connections Between Places

• Space-Time compression is the reduction in time it takes things to reach another place.– I can get to Paris faster now than 50 years ago– I get news from China faster now than 10 years ago– Europe’s economy affects the economy of the world

• Distance Decay is the further you are from something, the less contact you have with it.– You are all more likely to go to Universities in Utah

than in any other state, and more likely to go to Western states rather than eastern states, and more likely to go in the US than in foreign countries.

Finally . . .

• Uneven Development is the increasing gap in economic conditions both in a spatial sense (periphery and core) and within classes of a society.

• Colonialism plays into this. (The imposition of a capitalist form of production could stifle productive development—people in peripheral regions, who once toiled in isolated farms in subsistence farming now produce crops for sale in core regions or have migrated to cities in search of jobs in factories and offices.)