Chapter 12: Services

Introduction and Case Study (p. 397-399)

  1. What is a service? How do LDCs and MDCs differ in regards to the number of workers employed in service-sector jobs?
  1. What is a settlement? Why do services cluster in settlements?
  1. Case Study: Give at least 2 reasons why call centers, such as Kalldesk, locate in India. Also, give at least 1 challenge to call centers locating in India.

Key Issue #1: Where Did Services Originate? (p. 399-406)

  1. In which type of countries do services generate a high percentage of the GDP? Why?
  1. Complete the chart:

Type or Subtype / Definition/Examples / % of U.S. Jobs
Consumer Services
Retail
(Retail & Wholesale)
Wholesale
(Retail & Wholesale)
Education
Health
Leisure/Hospitality
  1. Complete the chart:

Type or Subtype / Definition/Examples / % of U.S. Jobs
Business Services
Financial
Professional
Transportation
& Similar Services
  1. What is the purpose of public services?

Give the percentages for the following:

____ % of total U.S. jobs____ % of public jobs in state governments

____ % of U.S. jobs, excluding public schools____ % of public jobs in local governments

____ % of public jobs in Federal Government

  1. Why is it sometimes difficult to distinguish between public and private sector services?
  1. Which types of services are growing? Why?
  1. Which types of services are not growing or are declining? Why?
  1. Describe the development of early consumer services. Give reasons why and examples.
  1. Describe the development of early public services. Give reasons why and examples.
  1. Describe the development of early business services. Give reasons why and examples.
  1. Global Forces, Local Impacts: Describe positives AND negatives to tourism as an economic activity. What is ecotourism?
  1. Describe the characteristics of clustered rural settlements. How did linear rural settlements differ from circular ones?
  1. Why were colonial American settlements in New England typically clustered?
  1. How did the plantation represent a clustered rural settlement in the colonial South?
  1. Why are dispersed rural settlements the more common type in the past 200 years in the U.S. and the U.K.?
  1. Why did settlements in the Middle Atlantic colonies develop in a dispersed style? Why did New England settlements change from clustered to dispersed?
  1. What was the enclosure movement? How did it affect rural settlements in the U.K.?

Key Issue #2: Why Are Consumer Services Distributed in a Regular Pattern? (p. 406-412)

  1. What is a central place? Describe the purpose of Christaller’s Central Place Theory?
  1. What is a market area or hinterland? How does a market area represent a nodal region?
  1. Why is a hexagon used to represent the market area rather than a circle or a square?
  1. What 2 factors determine the size of a market area?
  1. What is the range? What factors influence the range? Give examples.
  1. What is the threshold? What factors influence the threshold? Give examples.
  1. How do market analysts determine the profitability of a location? How do they determine optimal location?
  1. What is the gravity model? How is it used?
  1. What are the 4 settlement sizes, in order from smallest to largest (see Figure 12-7)? Which settlement size is there the most of? Which size has the largest range and threshold?
  1. What is the rank-size rule?

Compute the population of the following cities in a country, if the country follows the rank-size rule exactly, and the largest city has 10 million people (10,000,000):

2nd largest = ______people10th largest = ______people

3rd largest = ______people100th largest = ______people

  1. Describe a primate city and the primate city rule. Give examples of primate cities.
  1. What is the primary advantage of a country following the rank-size rule? How did Romania, with the primate city of Bucharest, attempt to improve the rank-size distribution of its country?
  1. Describe the purpose of periodic markets. Where are they found and why?

Key Issue #3: Why Do Business Services Locate in Large Settlements? (p. 412-420)

  1. What are the 4 ancient hearths of urban settlements?
  1. Describe the layout of ancient Mesopotamian settlements, such as Ur.
  1. What are city states? In what ways did the city-state of Athens impact Western Civilization?
  1. How did the Roman Empire shape urban settlement patterns?
  1. Describe what a Medieval European city would look like. What were the top 5 world cities during Medieval times?
  1. Where and why are modern world cities found? Describe the business, consumer, and public services in world cities.
  1. Complete the chart:

Hierarchy / Characteristics / Examples
1st Tier World Cities
2nd Tier World Cities
3rd Tier World Cities
Command & Control (Regional Center)
Command & Control
(Sub-regional Center)
Specialized Producer-Service (Functional/Industrial)
Specialized Producer-Service (Government/Education)
Dependent Center (Resort/Retirement)
Dependent Center (Manufacturing)
Dependent Center (Industrial/Military)
Dependent Center (Mining/Industrial)
  1. What is a city’s economic base? Differentiate between basic and non-basic industries?
  1. How can basic industries stimulate a city’s growth?
  1. What makes an industry a basic industry for a city?
  1. In what ways is the specialization of basic industries changing in the U.S.? Give examples.
  1. What 2 types of services do LDCs attract?
  1. How do offshore financial services work? Give examples of countries that specialize in these services. What characteristics do these countries have in common?
  1. What types of activities are considered “back office” functions? To where and why have back offices moved within MDCs? To where and why have back offices moved in LDCs?
  1. Describe how “talent” and “coolness” are measured. What role do each of these play in a city’s economy?

Key Issue #4: Why Do Services Cluster Downtown? (p. 420-428)

  1. What is the CBD? Why have services typically located there?
  1. What 3 types of retail services have typically located in the CBD? Give examples.
  1. Where have many CBD services moved to? Why are new malls again opening in the CBD?
  1. How have many cities attempted to revitalize their CBDs? What might be the positives and negatives of such changes?
  1. What types of business services locate in the CBD? Why?
  1. Why is land value in the CBD so high? How does this influence the CBD?
  1. Describe the various ways CBDs are built vertically. What are advantages and disadvantages of this vertical growth?
  1. Why are industries and residents typically excluded from CBDs? How have cites reused old industrial areas and attracted residents to the CBD in recent years?
  1. Describe the differences in European CBDs and U.S. CBDs.
  1. Why have retail stores moved to the suburbs? What challenges are caused by this?
  1. Why have factories moved to the suburbs? Why have offices moved to the suburbs?
  1. Case Study Revisited: What is happening to U.S. jobs? What types of jobs are still being added in the U.S.?