Problems

1. Campus as a Region.

Secure a map of your college or university campus. Classify all of the buildings and facilities into one of the following four categories of primary use (if a building contains more than one use, assign it the one you think is primary). Assign each use a color and color each building according to its primary function.

• Classroom - academic buildings
• Residence halls - dormitories
• Administrative - services - support buildings
• Recreation - athletic facilities

a. Is your campus comprised of functional regions based on groupings of buildings with similar uses?

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b. If so, is there any identifiable spatial pattern based on such characteristics as age or distance from the centerof the campus? Describe the pattern.

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1. Explain the concept of region in geography. Include in your definition the five characteristics shared by all regions, giving an example from the region in which you live of each characteristic.
2. What makes the area in which you live a region?
3. Read an encyclopedia article on the State of Kansas. How many "regions" can you identify? Are they all contiguous or do some overlap? Refer to the Nature of Regions section at the beginning of Chapter 12 to guide your answer.
4. Describe a hilly region in light of its physical characteristics and the responses to the characteristics by the people living there.
5. In addition to having tangible characteristics, regions can also be defined as perceptional. Most people have passed through an area at some point in our lives and formulated a mental image of an "unsafe" or "crime-ridden" region. Draw a mental map of such a region near where you live, work or go to school. What is found with the boundaries of this mental region that lead you to so characterize it as a place to be avoided?