Changing places Flashcards
(35 cards)
the concept of place
- location on a map/grid reference
- physical characteristics: topography
- human characteristics
- all things that flow in/out of a place
- the sense of place: emotional meanings
importance of place in human life and experiences
- physical characteristics change over timescales, long: rivers migrate, short: volcano erupts and alters landscape
- human characteristics: change over lifetimes e.g. new people born in a place whilst old die or shorter: people migrate in and out of a place
- flows: e.g. money change when a mnc invests in a new factory or closes existing factory
- sense of place: changes, e.g. places played as a child will not have same meaning when they return as an adult
place identity
people create identity based on places they feel connected to because they share characteristics they feel bind them together as a group
seen at diff scales:
-local: individuals from a village sharing a positive sense of that village
-regional: individuals from a region sharing an accent
-national: sharing a religion/language
insiders and outsiders
relating identity to a place means people can be perceived as belonging to those places or not: idea of insiders/outsiders in a place
-insider: someone who is familiar with a place and feels welcome
outsider: someone who feels unwelcome/excluded, dont feel they belong
effected by age, sexuality, gender
experienced places
places people have spent time in, when a person visits/lives in a place their experience shape their sense of that place
media places
places people have not been to but have created a sense of place for through their depiction in media
a persons sense of a media place can be very different to the lived experience of the same place because the media may present a place in a particular way for a particular purpose
near places
geographically near, more likely to feel like insiders as more likely to have experienced or feel comfortable in them but some may feel excluded due to age, sexuality, gender etc
far places
distant from where a person lives, more likely to feel like outsiders as less likely to have experienced or feel comfortable
globalisation effect on places
-travel technology means far places are quicker to get to and can therefore be experienced more quickly and easily
-ict means people can be very familiar with media places
-remain closely connected with people and activities in far places via internet
therefore increasingly likely people will feel more connected or like insiders in geographically far places
global companies and products mean that far places can feel very similar to near places
placelessness: globalisation making distant places look and feel the same
what are endogenous factors
the internal factors that shape a places character; physical, e.g. location, topography, or human: land use, built environment, infrastructure, demographic etc
what are exogenous factors
external factors that shape a places character including the relationship to other places and the flows in and out of a place
endogenous factors
physical
location
where a place is
places can be characterised by features that are present because of their location e.g. coastal region characterised by port
endogenous factors
physical
topography
the shape of the landscape
directly, e.g. mountainous characterised by steep slope
other factors: e.g. land use, mountainous suitable for certain types of pastoral farming
endogenous factors
physical
physical geography
the environmental features of a place e.g. altitude, aspect, soil and rock type
characterised directly: diff types of rocks form diff types of landscapes
physical geography affects other factors: e.g. economic characteristics e.g. place rich in natural resources can be characterised by the industries that can exist there
endogenous factors
human
land use
refers to human activities that occur on land e.g. farming
one of the most important factors in directly defining the character of a place, e.g. place thought of as rural if land use is farming
land use also effects other factors that give a place its character, e.g. residential and leisure land uses often require a lower density built environment
land use changes over time e.g. through deindustrialisation
endogenous factors
human
built environment and infrastructure
aspects of a place built by humans
infrastructure: structures built for transport, commincations and services e.g. roads and sewer systems
characterised directly:
-town and city centres higher density buildings, lower blocks and likely to have complex/dense networks of roads and railtracks as well as communications and other built features
villages have fewer, smaller buildings at a lower density and less complex infrastructure networks, built features such as markets or village halls
endogenous factors
human
demographic and economic characteristics
who lives in a place and what theyre like, age, gender, education level, religion etc
directly contribute: e.g. many people retire to seaside towns meaning they can have an older population and younger people feel like outsiders
economic characteristics are factors to do with work and money e.g. income and employment rates
can directly contribute to a character of a place: e.g. kensington in london high proportions of above average earners and low unemployment so characterised as wealthy
exogenous factors
how places are related to other places and and how these relationships affect their character
connected by things such as relative location, and by flows of people, resources, money and ideas
-relative location: e.g. villages and towns outside major cities counted as commuter settlements
-tourism
-flows of investment
-migration gives unique demographic characteristics e.g. birmingham 27% population asian descent
external flows cause places to change
places are constantly changing
historically the character of a place was heavily affected by endogenous factors
the original character of many places may have changed because of exogenous factors that have occurred over time
recent history, flows of people, money resources and ideas between places have increased because of increased transport and communications: globalisation
demographic change caused by shifting flows
flows of people
change any demographic characteristic, e.g. age or gender balance, local scale - young people leaving sussex because they cant afford to buy houses leaving an older population, international: large scale migration from north africa to europe altered the gender balance in some towns as a high proportion of migrants are male
demographic change caused by shifting flows
flows of money and investment
either from governments or businesses
e.g governments invest money in specific places in order to attract people there, e.g. london docklands development corporation improved economy and built environment which resulted in population increase
demographic change caused by shifting flows
flows of idea and resources
ideas such as the use of birth control can flow to new places and affect their demographic, e.g. by reducing birthrate and affecting population size. poorest countries in the world have the lowest usage of birth control and rapid population growth
shifting flows affecting cultural characteristics
cultural characteristics: how people live their lives, e.g. foods, customs, clothing, language, art, attitudes
change due to changing external flows:
-flows of people: people going to a new place bring their culture with them which can change the characteristics of a place, e.g. in the 20th century uk experienced mass migration from india and pakistan which created multiethnic communities in many places so there is a greater mix of languages spoken, religions practiced and foods eaten
-flows of money/investment/ideas: e.g. fast food companies from the usa such as mcdonalds opened restaurants in china and have grown rapidly since, eating habits have changed in china as a result with more people preferring western food over traditional chinese food
external forces
decisions of multinational corporations
major impacts on demographic, social and economic characteristics e.g. detroit in the usa was a major global centre of car manufacturing in the early and mid 20th century with mncs such as ford located there
- investment from mncs gave the city a massive economic boost, large numbers of jobs that offered high wages
- this altered demographic characteristics by attracting large numbers of migrants so the population grew to a peak of 1.8mil
- after the 1950s many mncs closed or relocated factories to cheaper places such as mexico which had impacts:
- population decline
- reductions in employment
- social deprivation