The Griffin-Ford model is the Latin American city model in AP Human Geography (Topic 6.5), showing a central CBD with a commercial spine and elite sector extending outward, ringed by zones that get poorer toward the edge, ending in periphery squatter settlements.
The Griffin-Ford model (often called the Latin American city model) is one of the regional urban models the CED names in EK PSO-6.D.1, alongside models for Southeast Asia and Africa. Geographers Larry Ford and Ernst Griffin built it to explain why Latin American cities don't follow North American patterns. At the center sits a thriving CBD, a leftover from the colonial plaza era. Stretching out from it is a commercial spine, a corridor of high-end businesses with the city's wealthiest residential elite sector wrapped around it.
Here's the part the exam loves. Around the CBD, concentric rings get poorer as you move outward. The zone of maturity (older, well-serviced housing) sits closest, then a zone of in situ accretion (housing being slowly improved, mixed quality), and finally periphery squatter settlements (informal housing, often called disamenity zones or barrios/favelas) on the edge. That's the reverse of the typical North American city, where the rich flee to the suburbs and poverty concentrates near the center.
This term lives in Unit 6 (Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes), Topic 6.5, under learning objective 6.5.A, which asks you to explain the internal structure of cities using various models and theories. The Griffin-Ford model is your go-to example of why one model can't explain every city. Burgess and Hoyt were built from Chicago data; Griffin-Ford shows that colonial history, rapid rural-to-urban migration, and informal housing produce a totally different spatial pattern. If an exam question asks how city structure differs between core and periphery countries, this model is the evidence you reach for.
Keep studying AP Human Geography Unit 6
Burgess Concentric Zone Model (Unit 6)
Griffin-Ford is essentially the Burgess model turned inside out. Burgess puts the poor near the CBD and the rich on the edge; Griffin-Ford puts the elite near the center and squatter settlements on the periphery. Knowing both lets you compare urban structure across world regions, which is exactly what 6.5.A asks for.
Central Business District (Unit 6)
The CBD anchors the Griffin-Ford model just like it anchors Burgess and Hoyt, but here it stays vibrant instead of hollowing out. The commercial spine is basically the CBD stretched into a corridor, pulling wealth and high-end services along one axis.
Galactic City Model (Unit 6)
These two are a perfect contrast pair. The galactic city model describes car-dependent North American metros with edge cities and a weakened core, while Griffin-Ford describes cities where the core still holds the power. Comparing them shows how transportation, history, and development level shape urban form.
Developing Countries (Units 6-7)
Periphery squatter settlements in this model are a direct result of rapid urbanization in developing countries. Rural migrants arrive faster than formal housing can be built, so informal settlements grow on the city's edge. This links urban structure in Unit 6 to development patterns you study in Unit 7.
Multiple-choice questions usually show you a diagram of the Latin American city model and ask you to identify a zone (the spine, the elite sector, the zone of maturity, or the periphery squatter settlements), or they ask which world region the model describes. Comparison stems are common too, like asking how wealth distribution in Griffin-Ford differs from Burgess. No released FRQ has used the name verbatim, but free-response questions on urban models regularly ask you to explain how city structure varies by region, and this model is the standard evidence for Latin America. Be ready to explain WHY the pattern exists (colonial plaza-centered design plus rapid in-migration), not just label the zones.
Both models use rings around a CBD, so diagrams look similar at a glance. The difference is direction of wealth. In Burgess (built on 1920s Chicago), socioeconomic status rises as you move outward, with low-income housing near the center. In Griffin-Ford, status falls as you move outward, with the elite clustered along a central spine and the poorest residents in squatter settlements on the periphery. If a question describes wealth decreasing with distance from the CBD, that's Griffin-Ford, not Burgess.
The Griffin-Ford model explains the internal structure of Latin American cities and is one of the regional models named in EK PSO-6.D.1 under Topic 6.5.
Its signature features are a strong CBD, a commercial spine with an elite residential sector alongside it, and rings of housing that get poorer toward the edge.
Wealth distribution runs opposite to the Burgess model, with the rich near the center and squatter settlements on the periphery.
Periphery squatter settlements form because rapid rural-to-urban migration outpaces formal housing construction in developing countries.
On the exam, use this model as evidence that urban structure varies by region and reflects colonial history, transportation, and level of development.
It's the Latin American city model from Topic 6.5, showing a central CBD with a commercial spine and elite sector, surrounded by rings of housing that decline in quality outward, ending in periphery squatter settlements.
They're opposites in wealth pattern. Burgess (based on Chicago) puts low-income residents near the CBD and wealthier ones farther out, while Griffin-Ford puts the elite near the center along the spine and the poorest residents in squatter settlements on the city's edge.
No. It was designed specifically for Latin American cities shaped by colonial plaza-centered layouts and rapid rural-to-urban migration. For North American metros, you'd use the Burgess, Hoyt, multiple-nuclei, or galactic city models instead.
The spine is a corridor of high-end commercial development extending outward from the CBD, with the city's elite residential sector clustered along it. It's where wealth and modern services concentrate.
Yes. The CED's EK PSO-6.D.1 explicitly includes urban models drawn from Latin America, and learning objective 6.5.A asks you to explain internal city structure using models like this one, usually through diagram-based multiple-choice questions or regional comparison FRQs.
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