2. Chaging place meaning and representation

Question 1

What did yi fu tuan think

Answer 1

The geographer Yi-Fu Tuan called this people-place bond ‘a sense of place’. As places cannot speak for themselves and are socially constructed, places mean different things to different people. Places can evoke feelings of nostalgia, pride, hope, adventure, tranquillity or fear.

Question 2

Individuals each have a unique sense of place developed from …

Answer 2

Their individual identity (a person’s sense of belonging to a country, region, city etc.).
Perspective and prior experiences (knowledge of the place e.g. through having been there, or through media representations).
A person’s sociocultural positioning (e.g. gender, ethnic origin, socio-economic grouping, race, religion etc.).

Question 3

HOw is place represented

Answer 3

Social media e.g. Facebook, Twitter, blogs
Art and literature e.g. paintings, poetry, novels
Music
Documentaries

Question 4

What are ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ representations of place?

Answer 4

Formal representations are objective (based on facts, rather than people’s opinions or interpretations e.g. maps).
Informal representations are subjective (opinion and interpretation based e.g. paintings).

Question 5

Why do representations matter?

Answer 5

How a place is represented can affect our decision making as to whether to visit a place, invest in a place, or even the extent to which we care about what happens to a place.
The representation of a place (including of an entire country or continent!) can influence the actions of investors and donors – from the individual, right up to MNC philanthropy, NGOs and international agencies.