What makes a region: formal, functional and perceptual regions

Grade 9 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Card A. The Rainbelt, in the made-up country of Norvia (made up for practice). It is every place that gets 800 to 1,200 mm of rain a year, whichever town or county the place lies in. Card B. The Kessel commuter zone, also in Norvia (made up). Kessel is a port city. The transport office counts a town as inside the zone if at least 30 percent of its workers travel to Kessel for work. Ardley: 25 minutes from Kessel, 62 percent of workers commute. Brook: 40 minutes, 48 percent. Calder: 55 minutes, 31 percent. Dunmore: 80 minutes, 9 percent. Card D. Terms, in our words. A formal region is an area where a measured trait is shared. A functional region is an area tied together by flows of people, goods or messages to one center, called a node. A perceptual region is an area that people think of and name, with no measured edge.

2. 1.

   Which kind of region is the Rainbelt, and why, Ari asks?

   • Perceptual: it has a nickname, so people picture it as one place in their minds
   • Formal: every place in it shares one measured trait, 800 to 1,200 mm of rain
   • Formal, because its edges follow the borders of Norvia’s counties
   • Functional: its towns send workers to one center, the port city of Kessel, and share that link
3. 2.

   What makes the commuter zone a functional region rather than a formal one, Bo asks?

   • Its towns get the same rainfall, as in Card A, so the towns act together as one region
   • Its towns are tied to one center, Kessel, by workers’ trips; the edge is where the tie weakens
   • It has a measured edge of 30 percent, and just a formal region can have a measured edge
   • Its towns lie close together, and nearness to each other is what makes a region functional

4. Use this

   Card B. The Kessel commuter zone, also in Norvia (made up). Kessel is a port city. The transport office counts a town as inside the zone if at least 30 percent of its workers travel to Kessel for work. Ardley: 25 minutes from Kessel, 62 percent of workers commute. Brook: 40 minutes, 48 percent. Calder: 55 minutes, 31 percent. Dunmore: 80 minutes, 9 percent. Card C. The Old Country (made up). Many people in Norvia use this name for the hills of the north. Asked to sketch it on a blank map, five people drew five different outlines, and none of the outlines included Kessel. Card D. Terms, in our words. A formal region is an area where a measured trait is shared. A functional region is an area tied together by flows of people, goods or messages to one center, called a node. A perceptual region is an area that people think of and name, with no measured edge.

5. 3.

   Why is the Old Country a perceptual region, Esme asks?

   • Its hills share one measured trait, so it is really a formal region
   • It is tied to Kessel by flows of workers, so it is functional
   • Five outlines disagree, so it is not a real region and cannot be mapped
   • It exists as a shared name and idea, and no measured rule gives it one edge

6. Use this

   Card B. The Kessel commuter zone, also in Norvia (made up). Kessel is a port city. The transport office counts a town as inside the zone if at least 30 percent of its workers travel to Kessel for work. Ardley: 25 minutes from Kessel, 62 percent of workers commute. Brook: 40 minutes, 48 percent. Calder: 55 minutes, 31 percent. Dunmore: 80 minutes, 9 percent.

7. 4.

   Using the transport office’s rule, which towns are inside the Kessel commuter zone, Jun asks?

   • Ardley, Brook, Calder and Dunmore, since the four lie within 80 minutes
   • Ardley and Brook, the towns within an hour of Kessel by under 50 minutes
   • Ardley alone, the one town where most workers commute to Kessel
   • Ardley, Brook and Calder
8. 5.

   The office raises its cutoff from 30 to 35 percent. What changes in the zone, Kira asks?

   • Dunmore moves in, since it is the farthest town and needs the service most
   • Nothing changes, since a region’s edge is fixed by the land, not by a rule
   • Calder drops out, while Ardley and Brook stay in
   • Brook and Calder both drop out, since each is under 50 percent
9. 6.

   A new town, Eskar, is 35 minutes from Kessel, and 12 percent of its workers commute there. Is Eskar in the zone, Luz asks?

   • Yes, because Eskar is closer to Kessel than Calder is, and Calder is inside the zone
   • No, because towns need more than 50 percent of workers commuting to be inside
   • No: 12 percent misses the 30 percent cutoff, though Eskar is closer than Calder
   • Yes, because any town within an hour of the port is counted as inside

10. Use this

    Card A. The Rainbelt, in the made-up country of Norvia (made up for practice). It is every place that gets 800 to 1,200 mm of rain a year, whichever town or county the place lies in. Card B. The Kessel commuter zone, also in Norvia (made up). Kessel is a port city. The transport office counts a town as inside the zone if at least 30 percent of its workers travel to Kessel for work. Ardley: 25 minutes from Kessel, 62 percent of workers commute. Brook: 40 minutes, 48 percent. Calder: 55 minutes, 31 percent. Dunmore: 80 minutes, 9 percent. Card D. Terms, in our words. A formal region is an area where a measured trait is shared. A functional region is an area tied together by flows of people, goods or messages to one center, called a node. A perceptual region is an area that people think of and name, with no measured edge.

11. 7.

    Could one town lie in both the Rainbelt and the commuter zone, Milo asks?

    • No: a place belongs to just one region, whichever kind it is
    • No: the Rainbelt is formal and the zone is functional, so they cannot overlap
    • Yes, but just when at least 30 percent of the town’s workers commute
    • Yes: the two regions answer different questions, so a town can fall inside both

12. Use this

    Card A. The Rainbelt, in the made-up country of Norvia (made up for practice). It is every place that gets 800 to 1,200 mm of rain a year, whichever town or county the place lies in. Card B. The Kessel commuter zone, also in Norvia (made up). Kessel is a port city. The transport office counts a town as inside the zone if at least 30 percent of its workers travel to Kessel for work. Ardley: 25 minutes from Kessel, 62 percent of workers commute. Brook: 40 minutes, 48 percent. Calder: 55 minutes, 31 percent. Dunmore: 80 minutes, 9 percent. Card C. The Old Country (made up). Many people in Norvia use this name for the hills of the north. Asked to sketch it on a blank map, five people drew five different outlines, and none of the outlines included Kessel.

13. 8.

    What would you need to know to say a town is inside the Rainbelt, Noah asks?

    • Which county it lies in, since regions follow county borders
    • Whether people there call it the Rainbelt in a survey
    • How many of its workers travel to Kessel, and whether it is at least 30 percent
    • How much rain it gets in a year, and whether that falls from 800 to 1,200 mm

14. Use this

    Card A. The Rainbelt, in the made-up country of Norvia (made up for practice). It is every place that gets 800 to 1,200 mm of rain a year, whichever town or county the place lies in. Card B. The Kessel commuter zone, also in Norvia (made up). Kessel is a port city. The transport office counts a town as inside the zone if at least 30 percent of its workers travel to Kessel for work. Ardley: 25 minutes from Kessel, 62 percent of workers commute. Brook: 40 minutes, 48 percent. Calder: 55 minutes, 31 percent. Dunmore: 80 minutes, 9 percent.

15. 9.

    Ren writes: “The Rainbelt is bigger than the commuter zone.” Do Cards A and B support that?

    • No, because the commuter zone reaches 80 minutes from Kessel and the Rainbelt has no size
    • No: neither card gives an area, so their sizes cannot be compared
    • Yes, because a formal region is bigger than a functional one
    • Yes, because the Rainbelt’s 800 to 1,200 mm range is wider than 30 percent

16. Use this

    Card B. The Kessel commuter zone, also in Norvia (made up). Kessel is a port city. The transport office counts a town as inside the zone if at least 30 percent of its workers travel to Kessel for work. Ardley: 25 minutes from Kessel, 62 percent of workers commute. Brook: 40 minutes, 48 percent. Calder: 55 minutes, 31 percent. Dunmore: 80 minutes, 9 percent. Card D. Terms, in our words. A formal region is an area where a measured trait is shared. A functional region is an area tied together by flows of people, goods or messages to one center, called a node. A perceptual region is an area that people think of and name, with no measured edge.

17. 10.

    Zee says Dunmore (80 minutes, 9 percent) has no link to Kessel. What is the best reading?

    • Dunmore has no link, since 9 percent is too few workers to matter
    • Dunmore has a link, but under the 30 percent cutoff, so it is outside the zone
    • Dunmore is inside, since a link of any size puts a town into the zone
    • Dunmore is outside because it lies more than an hour from Kessel by road