North America: The Human Landscape

1. North America: The Human Landscape • Current News and Weather • Finish Slides • Environmental Issues • Population and Settlement • Cultural Coherence and Diversity • Economic and Social Development • For Next Class: Unnatural Causes Background

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4. Environmental Issues Figure 3.4

5. Modern Spatial and Demographic Patterns Uneven pattern of distribution Metropolitan clusters dominate landscape Megalopolis Population: Current Patterns Figure 3.12

7. European Settlement Expansion 1st Stage (1600–1750) 2nd Stage (1750–1850) 3rd Stage (1850–1910) Population: Historic Patterns Figure 3.13

8. Westward Migration African-American Migration from the South Rural-to-Urban Migration Migration to the Sunbelt South Nonmetropolitan Growth North Americans on the Move Figure 3.14

9. Amenity Migration • What is amenity migration and what are the push and pull factors?

10. Amenity Migration: Process of people moving to areas due to actual or perceived higher environmental quality • Push Factors: Urban environments (traffic, density, stress, pollution, limited recreation, etc.) • Pull Factors: Recreational opportunities (skiing, biking, kayaking), open space, rural lifestyle, public land, etc.

16. American City Growth Changing Transportation Technologies Urban Decentralization Figure 3.16

17. Historical Evolution of the City • Stage I – Walking-Horsecar Era • Pedestrian city characterized by compactness • Stage II – Electric Streetcar Era • Streetcar suburbs developed as the 30-minute travel radius expanded greatly • Helped to differentiate space in older core city

18. Figure 3.16

19. Stage III – Recreational Automobile Era • Automobiles and highways significantly improved the accessibility of the outer metropolitan ring • Mass wave of suburbanization resulted • Residential space became even more partitioned by class and race • Stage IV – Freeway Era • High speed expressways further extended the 30-minute travel radius

20. Suburbanization • A significant product of this Freeway Era has been suburbanization and the associated suburban sprawl that characterizes many landscapes across the country.

21. Gentrification • Displacement of lower income residents of central-city neighborhoods with higher income residents • Rehabilitation of deteriorated inner-city landscapes • Construction of new shopping complexes and/or entertainment complexes

22. Gentrification New Urbanism Settlement Geographies: Urban Pittsburgh’s SouthSide Works neighborhood is evidence of an urban renaissance on the site of an old steel plant Figure 3.18

23. Urban Periphery Settlement Geographies: Suburban • Suburban development in Douglas County, CO, miles south of Denver’s Central Business District Figure 3.19

24. Repeating geometric patterns are a hallmark of rural North American landscapes Township and Range “stamp” in Iowa Settlement Geographies: Rural Figure 3.20

25. Globally Dominant and Diverse Culture Ethnic Groups Cultural Assimilation Cultural Coherence and Diversity Projected U.S. Ethnic Composition, 2000–2050 Figure 3.23

26. Figure 3.21

27. Geopolitical Issues Challenges to Federalism: – Quebec Secession – Native Land Claims Politics of Immigration Figure 3.31