Which of the following best describes the urban hierarchy of settlements smallest to largest?

AP Human Geography: Cities and Urban Land Use Notes

Defining Urbanization

• Urbanized population: The number of people living in cities.
• Urbanization: The process by which people live and are employed in a city.
• Nucleated form of settlement: The type of settlement typical of urban areas in which the settlement is closely grouped around a central area of development.
• Core area: The center area of development.
• Dispersed form of settlement: The type of settlement typical of rural areas, in which houses are far apart.
• Threshold: The minimum number of people needed to meet the needs of an industry.

• Commercialization: The selling of goods and services for profit.
• Basic industry: A large industry that moves into a city and helps form the city.
• Non-basic industries: Secondary city-serving industries that are established after a city’s basic industry.
• Employment structure: The way in which most workers are employed within a city. This structure typically moves from industrial to tertiary to quaternary activities.
• Post-industrial city: A city that specializes in information-based work.
• Deindustrialization: A city’s shift toward more specialized quaternary sector economic activities.
• Underemployment: A situation that occurs when too many employees are hired and there is not enough work for all of them.