Development in the Dominican Republic

I recently was given the opportunity of a life time and I got to go to the Dominican Republic and Build schools, while I was there I noticed some very interesting things about the developing country. 

The most interesting thing I saw was that all their advertisements featured non-dominican looking people. I never saw an advertisement which displayed anything other than caucasians.  This was extraordinarily interesting to me because when advertising you would think you would want to display people like the consumer so that they could picture themselves buying the product, but there are very few caucasians in the country. There are so few that in fact that many of them hadn't seen many, if any white people at all. When I was working children kept coming up and asking me if my hair was real and if they could cut off some and keep it. As a group of 56 white and hispanic americans we gathered a small crowd every day of people wanting to watch "The yellow people" work. The dominican dream seemed to be to acquire a green card. Multiple little children asked me if I would pick them up when they got their papers. The dream of leaving the country to go to America was even in the minds of children at the age of 5. This to me was a clear example of lack of independence. Idealizing another country or group of people through advertising is not helpful for a developing country. 

(this picture was taken off the internet because I was only able to take pictures in a moving vehicle and most of the billboard pictures were blurry)

One area the country did show strong characteristics of development was politically. The D.R. is a democracy similar to that of the united states. The largest advertisements were almost always political. Many billboards featured the faces of one of the representatives running for office. Politically the country is quite developed, although it holds little global power because it is a relatively small country. Additionally the country has its own currency that is not tied to the dollar unlike many other Nations in the Caribbean.

This is a billboard for Julio Romero who is running  for political office. (Although not likely win due to recent sex scandal)

The Dominican Republic has a GNI of about 5,000 per capita which compared to the U.S. GNI per capita of 53,500 is startlingly low although it is about mid range for the Caribbean islands. One of the reasons for this is its huge informal economy due to street vendors who don't pay sales tax (although some do) and an alarmingly large drug and slave trade run by the dominican Mafia, who we actually came in contact with twice on the trip. While we were working one day the several men from the Mafia pulled up to the work site in a purple mustang and pointed to one of the high schoolers in our group and offered us $50,000 in cash on the spot if we would sell him. Another day two men came up and asked again if they could by two of us for $75,000. Both times we said no we are americans and thankful they left without any trouble. Prostitution is also a huge business in the Dominican and many of the guys in our group were approached on more than one occasion. One of the people in our group even had a pimp flash a gun at him after accidentally bumping into a hooker on the sidewalk. Unfortunately I decided asking a hooker or one of the men in the purple mustang if I could take a selfie with them probably wasn't the greatest idea so I don't have any pictures for this section.

Street venders selling fruit

Another way people in the D.R. try to avoid taxation is by leaving buildings "unfinished". Due to the building taxation laws the government is unable to tax unfinished buildings. In order to take advantage of this law many people leave huge lengths of rebar sticking out of the tops of their houses and storefronts claiming they are planing on building a second level and therefor the building is currently "unfinished" and not taxable.

Notice the rebar at the top of the building. This means the owner is not paying property tax. 

Chapter 10: Development

Article: Women as a Force for Change by Nicolas Kristof

The United Nations has made a goal to empower women, but unfortunately this has not been incredibly effective, so it is still legal in many countries such as Dubai for rapists to receive custody of children fathered by rape, then the women who were raped can also be prosecuted for having extramarital sex while being raped. 


Model: This is Rostow's Model of development. The model discusses the stages of development a country will go through.

Map

 I chose Mongolia for my map because it has been top ranked on the list of the world fastest-growing economies since 2012. It earned its spot on the list almost entirely by selling natural resources to China in recent years and it is fighting to continue its growth. 

1. 
   "Chapter 10: Development," Human Geography

Essay 
Readings:


"Can Extreme Poverty Be Eliminated?" Jeffery D. Sachs
"The Grameen Bank," Muhammed Yunisa

Why are people impoverished and what can we as a society do to help end extreme poverty?

            We live in a world plagued by poverty and unequal distribution of wealth. In recent years it has become apparent that we are closing in on the possibility of eliminating extreme poverty, however one in ever six people on the planet still are having to survive with only one dollar a day.  Throughout the centuries people have attributed poverty to numerous things: religion, race, gender inequalities,  diseases such as malaria and even the laziness of the poor themselves. But what is the real reason for extreme-poverty? Muhammad Yunus the founder of the Grameen Bank believes the reason is they are not

given the opportunity and resources to grow. He is of the opinion that “People.. [are] poor not because they were stupid or lazy. They worked all day long, doing complex physical tasks. They [are] poor because the financial institution in the country did not help them widen their economic base.” If what Yunus believes is true and the problem is so simple to fix why haven't we fixed it already? 
            The root of the problem truly comes down to a flaw in the economic system and a flaw in humanity itself. Humankind is propelled by greed. Capitalism is based off of the goal of making a profit and in order to make a profit corporations often exploit people in developing countries. When large companies take advantage of people in countries with no minimum wage it creates an incredibly unequal distribution of wealth. The problem with our capitalist system that the pieces of the proverbial pie are vastly unequal. Unfortunately the fix for this inequality has been proposed in the past, however it developed into communism. What if there was another way we could help end extreme poverty without all things being exactly equal like in the communist system? The solution is for each country to give a higher percentage of their Gross National Product toward ending extreme world poverty. Currently the United States gives only .05% of out GNP toward foreign aid, which is extraordinarily low considering we are the largest economy in the world.  If the United States along with the other core countries in the world all raised the percentage of their national budgets designated toward ending extreme world poverty would not only be in sight, but it would be in reach. 

Chapter 10: Development- Colorado Case Study and Field Work -- Per Capita Income, Poverty Rate, Unemployment Rate, Percentage of Smokers, Life Expectancy, and High School Diplomas in Denver, Huerfano, Prowers, Montezuma, Jackson, and Lake Counties

Date Table:

Indicator	Per Capita Income	Poverty Rate (below poverty line)	Unemployment rate	Percentage of Smokers	Average Life Expectancy (years)	High School Diploma (percentage of students that didn’t receive)
Denver	$30,806	19.1%	4.2%	20%	75.9	22.7%
Huerfano	$23,139	20.6%	6.5%	31%	76.3	39.3%
Prowers	$18,429	23.3%	2.9%	19%	75.7	22.9%
Montezuma	$24,616	19.3%	5.3%	19%	74.8	37.5%
Jackson	$23,814	8.9%	1.6%	25%	81.3	40.4%
Lake	$29,836	14.3%	4.1%	15%	80.1	25.8%

**This data table includes statistics on Per Capita Income, Poverty Rate, Unemployment Rate, Percentage of Smokers, Life Expectancy, and High School Diplomas in Denver, Huerfano, Prowers, Montezuma, Jackson, and Lake counties in Colorado.

***NOTE: all of the lines of best fit in these graphs are oppositely reflected due to technical difficulties

This graph generally shows the correlation between unemployment rate and per capita income. Conclusively, the correlation is very weak. It should be concluded that when the unemployment rate increases the per capita income decreases. However, these counties contain outlying information that disrupts the correlation. This could be due to the fact that certain jobs pay less than others, and a high percentage in people in a county might have a job that pays low wages.

This graph generally shows the correlation between the percentage of people below the poverty line and the percentage of people who did not receive high school diplomas. In Denver, Prowers, and Lake Counties and Montezuma, Huerfano, and Jackson Counties, the  lower percentage of people who did not receive high school diplomas, the higher the poverty rate. These two clusters analyzed together do not share a lot of information. However, when observing the two clusters individually, date analysis is simpler.

It is almost common sense to assume that the more smokers a county has, life expectancy decreases. With three outliers, Huerfano, Jackson, and Lake counties, the graph seems to barely have a correlation. This is most likely because other factors come into play that may affect the average life expectancy of an area such as high-crime, bad diets, or other diseases. The average life expectancy are very closely clustered, which leads to difficulty in analyzing the graph.

***Note: the data in these graphs is very inconclusive due to the low amount of counties that were used for data, and extra circumstances that lead to outliers in the date

Section VIII – Write up - In this section you will be writing a few paragraphs explaining which county you feel most needs help developing. You should be able to give four reasons you chose the county you chose. Use statistics to support your decision.

Prowers, Colorado is one of the counties in Colorado in need of the most help in regards to development. Even though five other desperate counties are in need of help as well, Prowers is at the bottom of the deep hole. With a per capita income of $18,429, Prowers is the definition of poverty compared to the rest of the state. In 2012, the United States median household income was $51,017 with members of the middle class usually earning 50% higher or lower than that value. Therefore, middle class members usually earn $25,500 to $76,500 per capita as income. Based on this analysis from USNEWS.COM, Prowers contains a majority of lower class citizens. Lower class citizens are the most impoverished. These communities are in the most need of help with development. In fact, One of the main indicators of economic development is the Per Capita Income of an area. This highlights the income a person has to put towards purchasing necessities. Prowers, Colorado has the highest rate of citizens under the poverty line out of the six counties analyzed above. Out of every 100 of Prowers’ citizens, 23 earn less than the poverty level (23.3%). This means that these citizens are officially considered impoverished. This high rate is alarming and needs to be lowered as quickly as possible. “For example, a four-person family with two adults and two children is poor with annual cash income below $23,283; the threshold for a four-person family with a single parent and three children is $23,364.” This data is taken directly from the Institute for Research on Poverty. This high percentage of poverty is a burden to the successful development of this county.

Huerfano is also in need of a lot of help in terms of development. The percentage of smokers is the highest in Huerfano compared to the other counties. The high percentage of smokers can lead to many health issues, which is a huge burden to development. If the percentage of smokers would be lowered with aid efforts, development would most likely be more successful in Huerfano. Huerfano county has the highest unemployment rate (6.5%) among the other counties we chose in Colorado. This year the recorded average unemployment rate in the United States is 5.7 %. Therefore, the unemployment is worse than the national average. This means that Huerfano is failing compared to the other counties across the nation in terms of the unemployment level. A high unemployment rate means that a county has many people that are unemployed. Unemployment is a huge burden to the development of counties. If there is a large number of citizens that do not have jobs, the development of the economy occurs slowly or not at all. Job security allows for a citizens to have a higher per capita income. Once this development occurs, other factors such as percentage of smokers, percentage of people failing to receive high school diplomas, poverty rate, and average life expectancy, turn for better in a change reaction.

Works Cited

Williams, Geoff. "What It Means to Be Middle Class Today." US News RSS. U.S. News and

             World Report LP., 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.               <http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2014/04/24/what-it-means-to-be-middle-class-today>.

"What Are Poverty Thresholds and Poverty Guidelines?" Institute for Research on Poverty.    

           University of Wisconsin, 2014. Web. 24 Feb. 2015.     

<http://www.irp.wisc.edu/faqs/faq1.htm>.

"StateBook International." StateBookBeta. State Book, 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2015. <https://www.statebook.com/search_results/?state=&q=boulder>.

"United States Census Bureau." Huerfano County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau.

            U.S. Department of Commerce, 05 Feb. 2015. Web. 23 Feb. 2015. <http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/08/08055.html>.

Chapter 9 - Urban Geography

Article:

How Suburban Sprawl Is Killing The Environment

somebody wanted but so then 

Developers want to develop as much land as they can, but in this process they are hurting the environment by turning the world into a concrete jungle, so some cities are discussing plans to give developers small tax breaks for creating environmentally friendly solutions then they will perhaps leave a slightly smaller carbon foot print.  

Sector Model: 

This model proposes that a city is not divided in rings but as slices of a pie, each pie slice representing a different zone. This model was created by Hoyt.

Concentric Zone Model: 

The Concentric Zone Model separates cities in to 5 concentric zones each represented by a different ring. This model was created by Burgees.

New and Improved Model of Latin American City Structure 

The New and Improved Model of Latin American City Structure revolves around the CBD (the top connected black box) and then shows the commercial and upper-class and then the "mall" (the bottom connected black box). The model also shows the "disamenity" part of the city (the orange) which is the poorest part of the city.

 Multiple Nuclei Model :

 The Multiple Nuclei Model is different from the other models in that it does not depict a city with a single nuclei, instead it proposes that a city can have multiple nuclei. This model was created by Harris and Ullman in the 1940's 

 Model of a Subsaharan African City: 

The Model of a Subsaharan African City depicts three different CBDs. The first is the lasting CBD from colonial occupation. The second is the transitional business center where commerce is from curbside, stalls or storefronts and the third is informal and sometimes periodic market zone.

The Generalized Model of  Land Used Areas in the Large Southeast Asian City Model 

The Generalized Model of  Land Used Areas in the Large Southeast Asian City Model has no CBD in its place is an old colonial port zone and what is considered a largely commercial district containing a western commercial zone, the government zone and an alien commercial zone (characterized by Chinese who's dwellings are attached to their businesses).

Map:

The map I chose was Japan, because Japan is one of the most densely populated places in the world and is its suburbs are a perfect example of urban sprawl. The tightly packed suburbs are seemingly endless in the often uniform neighborhoods of Japan.

Part I

AP Human Geography chapter 9 Urban Geography Part 2

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• Across
• 1. a model showing similar land‐use patterns among the medium‐sized cities of Southeast Asia.
• 5. In a model urban hierarchy, the idea that the population of a city or town will be inversely proportional to its rank in the hierarchy.
• 6. The focal point of ancient Roman life combining the functions of the ancient Greek acropolis and agora.
• 7. Homes bought in many American suburbs with the intent of tearing them down
• 9. Economic activity that is neither taxed nor monitored by a government; and is not included in that government's Gross National Product (GNP); as opposed to a formal economy
• 10. A discriminatory real estate practice in North America in which members of minority groups are prevented from obtaining money to purchase homes or property in predominantly white neighborhoods
• 12. Movement of upper‐ and middle‐class people from urban core areas to the surrounding outskirts to escape pollution as well as deteriorating social conditions 
• 13. “Restricted neighborhoods or subdivisions, often literally fenced in, where entry is limited to residents and their guests.
• 16. The movement of millions of Americans from northern and northeastern States to the South and Southwest regions (Sunbelt) of the United States.
• 18. The study of the physical form and structure of urban places.
• 19. The division of a city into different regions or zones
• 20. adjacent to every town and city within which its influence is dominant.
• 23. Areas of a city, the main purpose of which is to encourage people to consume goods and services; driven primarily by the global media industry.
• 26. The urban area that is not suburban; generally, the older or original city that is surrounded by newer suburbs.
• 28. The transformation of an area of a city into an area attractive to residents and tourists alike in terms of economic activity.
• 29. “The rehabilitation of deteriorated, often abandoned, housing of low‐income inner‐city residents
• 30. A country's largest city
• 31. Unplanned slum development on the margins of cities, dominated by crude dwellings and shelters made mostly of scrap wood, iron, and even pieces of cardboard.
• 32. cities with 10 million or more residents

• Down
• 2. These cities are characterized by extensive amounts of office and retail space, few residential areas, and modern buildings
• 3. The very poorest parts of cities that in extreme cases are not even connected to regular city services and are controlled by gangs or drug lords.
• 4. a residential area or a mixed use area, either existing as part of a city or urban area or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city.
• 8. Homes referred to as such because of their “super size” 
• 11. The Concentric Zone Model divides cities into five concentric zones defined by functionally 
• 14. Theory proposed by Walter Christaller that explains how and where central places in the urban hierarchy should be functionally and spatially distributed with respect to one another.
• 15. a model of the Latin American city showing a blend of traditional elements of Latin American culture with the forces of globalization that are reshaping the urban scene
• 17. an urban design that calls for development, urban revitalization, and suburban reforms that create walkable neighborhoods with a diversity of housing and jobs.
• 21. Area of a city with a relatively uniform land use
• 22. Rapid change in the racial composition of residential blocks in American cities that occurs when real estate agents and others stir up fears of neighborhood
• 24. Legal restrictions on land use that determine what types of building and economic activities are allowed to take place in certain areas
• 25. Unrestricted growth in many American urban areas of housing, commercial development, and roads over large expanses of land, with little concern for urban planning.
• 27. Dominant city in terms of its role in the global political economy

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Chapter 9 Extra-credit Word search

AP Human Vocal Urban Geography 

N M A T V Z R R K H A I Z H U N P S Q C Q H T E A D S R S E G X V K Y A J S R U 
W O C A G U V L J K L J H U B O R Q U U U X C C S E R E X I R L V N R L Y E F I 
O U I M H K R O S B G M E F F I I J O A I O R F I T I V K Z I D P A I D X C R F 
M L T T A B U A S P B P Z W I T M W N G N O Z T A T D O A N F O B B C C Q T N O 
C G W A A N Y V E A F G O X O A A G M O P O I L I Z S L C C F U F R E T T O U Y 
W I T N C Z S B U S I N E S S Z T E M O N N A C O I C U N O I T A U T I S R R D 
P O T Q Y I I I A R O G A B K I E Y L I U D A N F A S T U R N L A I C O S O E Q 
D A X I P P T L O L W A R P S N P I N M B G A U U A S I R Z F Z E J X O E S P D 
L O C W E W R S A N M E O W W A S G M O E T G S X B U O W V O E L E X H C J Z Y 
Y A P T Z S Z Y F I S F N O Z B Q O O M I Z F J B R V N R T R S C Q T Z D Z Y Z 
O O N G W M P B Y J C B G P V R C J Q O C S Y L F U P D H O D A T J V P Y F A R 
T X C Q U G V D L D Y R W W U U T O N M S I N A B R U X P W L R I I Y Y F X X D 
P C I D C H W N J A O B E D B B A K S F Y K M K L H X Q H P P E Q F I S S Z G N 
V H Q U F B Z A A F M X K M P U N S N W H K J Z A Q M U A V G U L U W V G W J H 
A I M A T O P O S E M R X B M S W E E Y A R R S R I S M K Z D O T F Y Z S U A K 
S I V W B I Z E X R V E O A J O C G W C B L D N T F V Q G R O I S U N I K I I T 
F I R S T Z D V A M E L I F G K C Y K L A M T W N H T X N T U Z S U R P L U S B 
C C P O U P Q D F D R S M B N R D Z O M E P N O E T X D I K H L M T Y O Y D T I 
S U B U R B V A C V S O U E Z I I C U G C O S T C R E M N N I L E X R E T N L Y 
D K Z C N V D H Y A R P V L Z W K C A I I P D Y L A N O I T C N U F S I L A I I 
L U L X G J Z E L P A B O T P B O L U T N F W T L E D V L Y Q H H Z E K C L Q S 
O E P T L I T C H O A K J Y U T L T A L A A O N I H P V D Y D D X S C W Z T A I 
X I A T B I A O I V R W W S M I E C F T T H S A N X W N E F X Q E Q O V N W W V 
P V Z D S G L A R M N P T Q V Z I G M U L U O H D X X D R R F C Z O N Q X W B C 
C Z A C E O B B C N U I F N H F G A I L E I R S U M O D E L N O W H D V P F V T 
K G L L G R Y A D I N R W B I Z Q Q E P Y H N A S W N R E K N H C L A Q D H A X 
W B M Y L P S T Q G R B O T A R E A W A C V S U L Z C U D E Z I N H R H B M D I 
W I X R K E P H N O R E A F G R Y E D D I O J N G O T M A G D M E A Y T B M E Z 
I L H B Y F Y H I H Q R M D T K K A Z O R P M L S O M Y R W I S A U T J P W S T 
W D D X M N Q S L P T M W A K E M Z Q R T Q W G R M X N T T T A T T A M S T Y P 
M Z S R J Y Z T X S N L C M O F X Q Q E N Y R C W S K G R V O I E B D R J H N T 
A Z S W Y T Z K I O W O H G L S G Z S O E V R C D R X R K L G Q D Z U T V Q E J 
H V G A B K X B B I S H N R E Y E N U J C S H N I V D D I S A M E N I T Y S K O 
U O P R M P J Z U E O B W E H E W M C O N S U M P T I O N V I M R Q B S B V I D 
G E N T R I F I C A T I O N M O L Y J V O I M K I L T G B R E W L B I G K P S W 
Z C W W A J F M F T K E R B D O W V F X C S Y W H S Q G Z R P R C P G V S N M X 
T I P M T J S S K O Z O G R H O N D I L F Z E E C D Z A G W A Z P Y J F D E A X 
O O I C E G X P C P Z I A H R D H E D B Q Q P L I U N T E G D E F R O E O B L R 
M Y J O M G R A B A G E T L R U J M H R P R S Q I V S E M Z K R U T A I U A P L 
V B L F Y T I C W C T A D Z L B J I H P X U J T Z N L D D G L T N T K K A B A C 

ACROPOLIS
AGORA
AGRICULTURAL
AND
AREA
BELT
BLOCKBUSTING
BUSINESS
CENTRAL
CITIES
CITY
CLASS
COMMERCIALIZATION
COMMUNITIES
CONCENTRIC
CONSUMPTION
DISAMENITY
DISTRICT
ECONOMY
EDGE
FIRST
FORUM
FUNCTIONAL
GATED
GENTRIFICATION
GRIFFIN-FORD
HEARTH
HUANG
INDUS
INFORMAL
LAWS
LEADERSHIP
MCGEE
MCMANSIONS
MEGACITIES
MESOAMERICA
MESOPOTAMIA
MODEL
MORPHOLOGY
NEW
NILE
PERU
PHENOMENON
PLACE
PRIMATE
RANK-SIZE
REDLINING
REVOLUTION
RIVER
RULE
SECONDARY
SECTOR
SHANTYTOWNS
SITE
SITUATION
SOCIAL
SPACES
SPRAWL
STRATIFICATION
SUBURB
SUBURBANIZATION
SUN
SURPLUS
SYNEKISM
TEARDOWNS
THEORY
TRADE
URBAN
URBANISM
VALLEY
VALLEYS
VILLAGE
WEI
WORLD
ZONATION
ZONE
ZONING

Chapter 8 - Political Geography

Article: Hoping for Asylum, Migrants Strain U.S. Border

Thousands of Mexicans migrants cross the U.S. boarder each year in search of a better live, but the U.S. boarder patrol has caught over 90,700 apprehensions in the Rio Grande Valley in the past six months so now the migrants are seeking asylum from gang violence then the U.S. has to go through the legal trouble of looking at each case and deciding if asylum can be granted. 

Map:

I choose the UK because it is a very interesting display of boarders and a multi-nation state. Although Ireland, Scotland and Wales are all under British rule they consider themselves to be separate, in a recent vote however Ireland did not voted not to claim independence from the UK.

Readings:
"Lines in the Sand," Cullen Murphy
"Chapter 8: Political Geography" from Human Geography



How have the European set boundaries lead to more conflict?

              The modern map of the Middle East was largely drawn up by Britten and France based on the two countries agreements to follow a treaty created during WWI. The map that they drew did not really take regional characteristics into account and was created almost entirely for the personal gain of the two countries. The careless mapping of the middle east created geographic states in places which have clashing religions and social behaviors. Originally there was a plan to take regional characteristics into account called the Lawrence plan, however it never came into effect. As the boarders are today there are many divided ethnic groups that do not have a country, the Kurds are one such example of a stateless nation. The division of the Kurds have lead to conflict and unrest in the middle east because they would like to create their own state, however the Kurd territory has oil reserves which Iraq, Turkey and Syria would all like to keep control of. 
              If the boarders had been based off of the Lawrence map the Kurds and other divided nations may in fact have had a state, but because they were not divided in such a manner there will always be conflict among the various nations with in the states. Unfortunately redrawing the states so that ethnic groups and regions are together would now result in more conflict due to states anger over loosing valuable territory, so there is really no practical solution for unifying the divided ethnic groups. 

Gerrymandering explained: This is a great little video that explains Gerrymandering concisely.