Unit I. Geography: Its Nature and Perspectives (5-10%)

• Unit Introduction
• Geography as a field of inquiry
• Evolution of key geographical concepts and models associated with notable geographers
• Key concepts underlying the geographical perspective: location, space, place, scale, pattern, regionalization, and globalization
• Key geographical skills

• How to use and think about maps and spatial data
• How to understand and interpret the implications of associations among phenomena in places
• How to recognize and interpret at different scales the relationships among patterns and processes
• How to define regions and evaluate the regionalization process
• How to characterize and analyze changing interconnections among places

• Geographic technologies, such as GIS, remote sensing, and GPS
• Sources of geographical ideas and data: the field, census data, and satellite imagery

Unit II. Population (13–17%)

• Geographical analysis of population

• Density, distribution, and scale
• Implications of various densities and distributions
• Patterns of composition: age, sex, race, and ethnicity
• Population and natural hazards: past, present, and future

• Population growth and decline over time and space

• Historical trends and projections for the future
• Theories of population growth, including the Demographic Transition Model
• Patterns of fertility, mortality, and health
• Regional variations of demographic transitions
• Effects of population policies

• Population movement

• Migration selectivity
• Major voluntary and involuntary migrations at different scales
• Theories of migration, including push and pull factors,human capital, and life course
• International migration and refugees
• Socioeconomic consequences of migration

Unit III. Cultural Patterns and Processes (13–17%)

• Concepts of culture

• Traits
• Diffusion
• Acculturation, assimilation, and globalization
• Cultural regions

• Cultural differences

• Language
• Religion
• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Popular and folk culture

• Cultural landscapes and cultural identity

• Values and preferences
• Symbolic landscapes and sense of place
• Environmental impact of cultural attitudes and practices

Unit IV. Political Organization of Space (13–17%)

• Territorial dimensions of politics

• The concept of territoriality
• The nature and meaning of boundaries
• Influences of boundaries on identity, interaction, and exchange
• Federal and unitary states
• Spatial relationships between political patterns and patterns of ethnicity, economy, and environment

• Evolution of the contemporary political pattern

• The nation-state concept
• Colonialism and imperialism
• Democratization

• Changes and challenges to political–territorial arrangements

• Changing nature of sovereignty
• Fragmentation, unification, alliance
• Supranationalism and devolution
• Electoral geography, including gerrymandering
• Terrorism

Unit V. Agriculture and Rural Land Use (13–17%)

• Development and diffusion of agriculture

• Neolithic Agricultural Revolution
• Second Agricultural Revolution
• Green Revolution
• Modern Commercial Agriculture

• Major agricultural production regions

• Agricultural systems associated with major bioclimatic zones
• Variations within major zones and effects of markets
• Linkages and flows among regions of food production and consumption

• Rural land use and settlement patterns

• Models of agricultural land use, including von Thünen’s model
• Settlement patterns associated with major agriculture types
• Land use/land cover change, irrigation, conservation(desertification, deforestation)

• Modern commercial agriculture

• Biotechnology, including genetically modified plants and animals
• Spatial organization and diffusion of industrial agriculture
• Organic farming and local food production
• Environmental impacts of agriculture

Unit VI. Industrialization and Economic Development (13–17%)

• Growth and diffusion of industrialization

• The changing roles of energy and technology
• Industrial Revolution
• Evolution of economic cores and peripheries
• Geographic critiques of models of economic localization(i.e., bid rent, comparative costs of transportation), industrial location, economic development, and world systems

• Contemporary patterns and impacts of industrialization and development

• Spatial organization of the world economy
• Variations in levels of development
• Deindustrialization and economic restructuring
• Globalization and international division of labor
• Natural resources and environmental concerns
• Sustainable development
• Local development initiatives: government policies
• Women in development

Unit VII. Cities and Urban Land Use (13–17%)

• Development and character of cities

• Origin of cities
• Rural–urban migration and urban growth
• Global cities and megacities
• Suburbanization and edge cities

• Models of urban systems

• Rank-size rule
• Central place theory
• Gravity model

• Models of internal city structure

• Concentric zone model
• Sector model
• Multiple-nuclei model
• Changing employment mix
• Changing demographic and social structures
• Uneven development, ghettoization, and gentrification

• Built environment and social space

• Housing
• Transportation and infrastructure
• Political organization of urban areas
• Urban planning and design
• Patterns of race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status