Understanding Human Population Dynamics and Urban Structures

Posted on Jan 28, 2025 in Geography

Demography: Understanding Human Population

Demography is the quantitative and statistical study of the human population.

Population Census: An official document published by the National Spanish Statistical Institute (INE) that sets out the country’s demographic data.
Municipal Registry: A document prepared by municipalities which includes data on sex, age, marital status, economic activities of their inhabitants, and level of education.
Civil Registry: A registry which records births, deaths, and marriages taking place in the country.
Population Pyramid: A graph which represents the population of a certain year and country, including sex and age.

Crude Birth Rate: The number of births per 1,000 people.
General Fertility Rate: The number of births in a place relative to the women who live there of a certain age profile.
Infant Mortality Rate: The number of infant deaths under one year old relative to the total number of births per 1,000 people.
Life Expectancy: A measure that expresses the number of years that a person can live from their birth.
Natural Increase: The difference between births and deaths in a population.

Migration: The movement of people from one place to another.
Rural Exodus: People moving from the countryside to the city.
Pendulum Migration: People who commute every day between their workplace, usually in the city, and the outskirts of urban areas where they live.

Functions of the city are the many activities that take place in the urban area.

Residential Function: The common function of all cities and the predominant function in some urban settlements (satellite cities and dormitory towns).
Commercial Function: The function involving the exchange of products and services.
Industrial Function: The function which started in the Industrial Revolution and is aided by the availability of labor and communication networks.
Tourist Function: The function related to a rich historical or artistic heritage.
Political and Administrative Function: The function of the city where headquarters of the main political bodies are located.
Cultural and Administrative Function: The function that includes museums, universities, and spaces for cultural and leisure activities.

Morphology of cities refers to anything that can affect the external aspect, such as location or urban planning.

Grid Plan: A type of urban planning where the streets intersect at right angles and the space is divided by blocks.
Linear Plan: A type of urban planning that can be planned or spontaneous, with a main street.
Radial Plan: A type of urban plan that is distinguished by a central core with different roads that branch out.
Irregular Plan: A type of urban plan that is caused by a lack of planning, with roads of all sizes, squares with no defined shape, and dead ends.

Urban structure is the internal organization of the space of the city and the use of the land.

City Center: The nucleus where the most important economic and social activities are located.
Peri-urban: An area around the center which has a main function, typically residential.
Outskirts: The outer area of the city, resulting from the city’s expansion.
Hinterland: All cities are related to an area or territory over which they have an economic, social, and cultural influence.

Regular Urban Networks: Areas where all areas are well-connected by efficient and constant changes.
Concentrated Urban Networks: Urban networks organized by a single major metropolis.

Factors of distribution are the combination of physical and human factors that determine the planet’s population.

Population density is the total population of a territory per total surface area of the territory, expressed in square kilometers.