Question

The difference between formal and functional regions is

Answer 1

Formal Region

Functional Region

Often concrete and physical in nature

 Specific to one area

 Has specific boundaries that set them apart from other regions in the world

 Areas organized around a node or focal point. (like a university, airport, or a radio station

 Often can be seen inside one another

This kind of region diminishes in importance outward

 Homogeneous areas or habitats inhabited by social groups, societies, or nations

Often a metropolitan area that consists of a major city and lots of smaller towns or cities that surround it

Organized and represented by small systems or part systems

 The region is tied to the central point by transportation or communication systems or economic or functional associations

 Based on facts and knowledge of an area; like population and temperature

Many people live in one town and work in another because they are part of the same functional region

Has clear cut, political boundaries

 Functions and works together as part of an economic and social system

 Characterized by a common human property like language, religion, nationality, political identity or culture, common physical property, climate, land form and vegetation

 The purpose of functional locations is to study the structure and functions of community within some spaces

Defined by measures of: Population, ethnic background, crop production, per capita income, population density and distribution, industrial production, mapping physical characteristics, temperature, rainfall and growing season

The accessibility and isolation are measured in terms of cost distance, time distance or mileage through a transport network – these distances are measured from special nodes or axes

Defined by common political identity, political units – where all people are subject to same laws and government

   Examples: States, Countries, Cities, Counties and Provinces

Defined by a set of activities, connections or interactions

 

Examples for formal regions: Chinatown (San Francisco, CA) Chinatown – (big cities in USA) – Chinese people, restaurants, stores

Examples include newspaper circulation area, Commuter traffic patterns, Subway systems in NYC, Boston, etc., Highway systems, Los Angeles Metropolitan Area