AP Hugs Chapter 8 Drill

Which of the following refers to the minimum number of people required to support a business?

• range

• threshold

• travel time

• hearth

• spatial perspective

Answer explanation

The threshold (B) of a service is the minimum number of people required to support a business.

Range (A) refers to the maximum distance people are willing to travel for a service. Travel time (C) refers to the amount of time an individual will travel for service. A hearth (D) is a region from which innovative ideas originate. And spatial perspective (E) is concerned with observing variations in geographic phenomena across space.

A megacity is defined as a metropolitan area with a population greater than

• 1 million

• 5 million

• 10 million

• 25 million

• 50 million

Answer explanation

A megacity is a metropolitan area with a population of more than 10 million people.

If you don't know the answer to a strict definition question like this, at least try to narrow down choices like (A) and (E) that seem too extreme.

All of the following are consequences of urban transportation EXCEPT

• environmental damage due to the release of greenhouse gases

• increased access to mass transit

• increased controversy regarding construction subsidization

• a decline in public health because of vehicle emission

• traffic congestion due to increased personal vehicle use

Answer explanation

Increased access to mass transit (B) is a potential solution to some of the problems caused by a high volume of vehicles on the road in urban areas. Such problems include environmental damage due to greenhouse gases, (A); controversy regarding construction subsidization (C); a decline in public health (D) and traffic congestion (E)

In the bid-rent curve, it is expected that as the distance from the PLVI decreases

• the crime rate increases

• the crime rate decreases

• the cost of transportation increases

• the price of land increases

• the price of land decrease

Answer explanation

The PLVI, or peak land value intersection, is the point in a city that has the highest value. Therefore, the closer another parcel of land sits relative to the PLVI (meaning decreased distance), the higher the land value rises. For example, as you drive into the center of Chicago, the cost of housing climbs higher. Choose (D)

One advantage of the sector model over other models of urban structure is that

• it portrays a decentralized vision of urban life

• it incorporates both industrial corridors and ethnic neighborhoods

• it implies that there are multiple nodes of business

• it explores the concept of public religiosity

• it relies upon the certainties of mathematical modeling

Answer explanation

Unlike the multiple-nuclei model or the peripheral model, the sector model actually accounts for variations in the ethnic makeup of neighborhoods. Often, immigrants move into low-income housing, which is situated alongside the manufacturing and shipping corridors. Choice (B) is correct.

A major difference between an Anglo-American city and a Latin American city is

• the central business district is significantly larger in Anglo-American cities than in Latin American cities

• major boulevards lead out of the central business district in Anglo-American cities, while a patchwork of streets serves the same function in Latin American cities

• the poor are located in the inner city in Anglo-American cities, while in Latin American cities, they're located at the outer periphery

• the wealthy in Anglo-American cities stayed within the city center, while the wealthy in Latin American cities fled to the exurbs

• it takes longer for squatters in Latin America to achieve land tenure than it does for squatters in the US

Answer explanation

The urban poor in Latin America are almost always located at the outer edges of the city. The reasons for this are many, but one significant one is the fact that many of those poor people have resettled in the cities after being forced off their land because of rural political unrest and uprisings. In American cities, the urban poor are usually situated in the center of the city. Select (C) as the correct answer.

An edge city contains which of the following?

• transportation nodes, telecommuting, retail space

• little office space, much retail space, telecommuting

• much office space, little retail space, transportation nodes

• much retail space, weak city government, high daytime population

• much office space, strong city government, low daytime population

Answer explanation

An edge city is any part of a suburb that is conceived of as a business district. It has grown directly out of the new emphasis on the service sector. Retailers tended to follow the jobs, resulting in the growth of large suburban shopping malls. Many of these suburban business districts have become quite large and are poorly planned, due to the weak or nonexistent city government in these regions. Choose (D)

According to the chart above, Santiago contains nearly ten times as many people as the next biggest city. It can be concluded from this that Santiago must be

• an entrepot

• a gateway city

• a megacity

• a primate city

• a world city

Answer explanation

A primate city occurs when the largest city in a country has at least twice the population of the country's next largest city. This can result in an uneven national economic development, resentment, and a sense of there being two different classes of people: those who live in the primate city and those who live everywhere else. This phenomenon has also occurred in Argentina, Egypt, South Korea and France. The correct answer is (D)

The garden city movement, which pioneered planned developments with detached single-family homes, was the beginning of the growth of

• deindustrialization

• central business district

• high-density zoning

• gentrification

• suburbia

Answer explanation

The garden city movement began in the 1870s largely as a reaction to the messiness and chaos of the rapidly growing inner cities. Their innovation was to imitate small European estates on the outskirts of the city, served by streetcar lines into the center-the beginning of modern suburbia. Choices (A), (B), (C) and (D) are hallmarks of urban zones.

Since the 1950s, suburbia has been the predominant model of American life. Its growth can be LEAST attributed to

• federal home loan programs

• the migration of business districts to the suburbs

• the existence of growth boundaries

• increasing crimes rates in the inner city

• the arrival of freeways

Answer explanation

Growth boundaries are laws enacted by county boards to limit the rapid growth of real estate development in a particular area. These rules often insist that developers maintain a minimum lot size, so that fewer homes may be built in the area. Communities without such rules often result in smaller lots, more housing, and higher population density-precisely the same as the cities they're leaving.