AP Human Geography — cities of the world and urban models

Unit 6 of AP Human Geography, Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes, does not stop at the North American city. The course framework asks you to explain megacities in the periphery, the world cities that run the global economy, the new forms of the suburban United States, and urban models drawn from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. This material covers topics 6.2 to 6.5 with that wider lens; the classic concentric, sector and multiple nuclei models, central place theory and gentrification appear in other materials of the category.

The first block is about the global urban system. You define megacities and metacities and explain why the fastest-growing ones are now in Africa and Asia; you explain what makes New York, London and Tokyo world cities at the top of the hierarchy; and you apply the gravity model with a real calculation, seeing how strongly distance reduces interaction.

The second block is about new urban forms in the United States: suburbanization, sprawl and decentralization, and the edge cities, exurbs and boomburbs they produced, together with the galactic city model in which the downtown becomes one node among many along a beltway.

The third block is about cities outside North America. You work through the Griffin-Ford model of the Latin American city, from the commercial spine and elite sector to the zone of in situ accretion, the disamenity sector and the peripheral squatter settlements; the de Blij model of the African city with its three CBDs and satellite townships; and the McGee model of the Southeast Asian port city with its alien commercial zone and desakota. You compare them with the Burgess model and explain the differences through colonial history, migration and transportation.

Four formats are offered. The quiz has twelve questions, including a gravity model calculation and scenario items that ask you to tell an edge city from a boomburb, each explained. The flashcards cover every model zone and urban form. The written work gives eight free-response style questions, answered by hand and checked against a reference answer and key points, including one on the strengths and limits of applying a model. In the oral exam an examiner asks one question at a time, describes cities for you to interpret with the models, and ends with precise feedback.

This is practice material written by Zestly, based on the published AP Human Geography course framework; it is not produced or endorsed by the College Board.

• Define megacities and metacities and explain their growth in the periphery and semiperiphery
• Explain the role of world cities and global urban networks
• Apply the gravity model, including a calculation with distance squared
• Describe suburbanization, sprawl, edge cities, exurbs, boomburbs and the galactic city model
• Describe the Griffin-Ford, de Blij and McGee models and compare them with North American models
• Evaluate strengths and limitations of applying urban models to real cities

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board AP Human Geography Course and Exam Description (course framework effective fall 2020), Unit 6, topics 6.2 to 6.5.