Site, Situation and Push/Pull

1. Site, Situation and Push/Pull SOL 11a,b,c

2. Push and Pull Factors • What is a push factor? • Anything that makes people leave an area • What is a pull factor? • Anything that brings people to an area.

4. Location of Cities Site Situation • Site is the actual location of a city • (Where is it?) • Situation is another name for relative location – the location of a city with respect to other geographic features, regions, resources, and transport routes • (What is it near?) • (How close is it to…?)

5. Examples of Site • Harbor sites: New York City; Alexandria, Egypt; Istanbul, Turkey • Island sites: Paris (located on island in the Seine River), Hong Kong, Singapore • Oasis sites: Damascus, Syria • Confluence sites: Khartoum, Sudan; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Hilltop sites: Rome, Athens, Jerusalem • Sites where rivers narrow: London (Thames River) and Quebec (St. Lawrence River)

6. Islands

7. Harbor Sites

8. Religious Site

9. Examples of Situation • Baghdad – Command of land between Tigris and Euphrates rivers • Istanbul – Command of straits and land bridge to Europe • Mecca, Saudi Arabia and Varanasi, India – Focal point of pilgrimage • Xi’an, China – City on Silk Road • Timbuktu, Mali – City on Trans-Sahara trade route • Singapore – City on Strait of Malacca (maritime trade route)

10. Examples of Situation • Cape Town, South Africa – Supply station for ships • Omaha, Nebraska – City that grew up on U.S. Transcontinental Railroad • Sacramento, California – City that grew up on U.S. Transcontinental Railroad • Novosibirsk and Vladivostock – Cities that grew up on the Trans-Siberian Railroad

11. Command of Land

12. Railroads

13. Trade Routes

15. Functions of Cities • Security, defense • Religious centers • Trade centers (local and long distance) • Government administration • Manufacturing centers • Service centers

16. How Functions Change • Rio de Janeiro – Move of Brazil’s capital city from Rio de Janeiro to Brasilia • Pittsburgh – Early function connected to defense, then became steel manufacturing center, later shifted to diverse services • New York City – Changes in trade patterns, trade from Great Lakes via Eerie Canal, worldwide trade and financial center • Mining Towns – “ghost” towns – resource depletion

17. Brasilia

18. How Functions Change

19. Influence of Urban Areas • Nation Building – monuments • Transportation/Communication Hubs • Magnets for Migration • Seed beds for new ideas and technology • Universities • Corporate Headquarters • Media Centers

20. Problems • Transportation problems • Rich and poor neighborhoods exist in different areas isolated from one another • Providing essential services (fresh water, sewage disposal, electricity, schools) • Air, water, and noise pollution • Sprawl results in conversion of agricultural land to urban uses • Rapid immigration results in “shantytowns” • In developing countries, major cities are more connected to regions outside the country than to regions within the country

21. Shantytowns