2. How do we understand place? Flashcards
What is the difference between place and space?
Space - has no social connections to humans, spaces exist between places
Place - location defined by emotional attachment from humans
What characteristics make up the identity of place?
Physical geography
Built environment
Demography
Socio-economics
Culture
Politics
What factors influence perception of place?
Age
Gender
Sexuality
Religion
Role performed
How does age influence someone’s perception of place?
- Perceptions of places such as parks
- Nostalgia
- Life cycles, eg. young person moving into first home typically lives near city center, someone with a family tends to gravitate toward suburbs
How does gender influence someone’s perception of place?
- Traditionally, many places have been defined as being ‘male’ or ‘female’
- Women typically associated with the domestic sphere
- ‘Geography of fear’, women typically avoid darker areas at night due to safety
How does sexuality influence someone’s perception of place?
- As acceptance of different sexual orientations becomes more widespread, some places acquire meaning as they are where LGBT people tend to cluster, sense of security
- Eg. Gay Village in Manchester
- Economic aspect, ‘pink pound’ is important in some locations in helping regeneration and rebranding, Manchester, Brighton and San Francisco benefit from LGBT tourism as people seek out places where they can relax and have a sense of security in being themselves
How does religion influence someone’s perception of place?
- Some natural landscape features are sacred to certain groups, eg. mass of sandstone, Uluru, in the centre of Australia has a major role in Aboriginal creation stories
- Buildings have also been given religious meaning, eg. churches and synagogues represent a place of great religious significance
- Places of pilgrimage eg. Lourdes
How does role performed influence someone’s perception of place?
- Differing behaviour in places such as areas of work and areas of relaxation (eg. school and home)
- Independent person likely to view an area differently than the parent of two young children
How can level of emotional attachment to place influence people’s behaviours and activities there?
- Memories are highly personal and highly selective, if we have positive experiences of a place we are likely to have strong emotional attachments to the place and vice versa
- Memory and feelings are also social, eg. sports fans and attachment to home nation
What is globalisation?
- Increasing interconnectedness and interdependence of the world, economically, socially, politically and culturally
What does the term ‘global village’ mean?
It is used to convey the idea that the world has become smaller in the sense that communications and the flow of goods are quicker and more accessible than ever before, more people travel further with increasing frequency
What is time-space compression?
The idea that space is no longer the barrier it once was to communication and movement of people, goods and ideas, can be understood through seasonal food always being available at supermarkets
Who would view globalisation and time-space compression favourably?
- Those who are able to manipulate time-space compression to their advantage
- The nations that can benefit and gain access to things that previously were very difficult for them to obtain
Who would not view globalisation and time-space compression favourably?
- Those who are unable to manipulate time-space compression to their advantage
- Some may feel a sense of dislocation from places they grew up in
- Some areas may feel that they are disconnected from the ‘global village’ as they do not have the same access to communications to transport of resources due to lower levels of technological development (digital divide)
What are examples of informal representation of place?
TV
Film
Music
Art
Photography
Literature
Graffiti
Blogs
