2b - Places are represented through a variety of contrasting formal and informal agencies

Question 1

What are informal representations of place?

define and examples of informal agencies

Answer 1

informal - offer sounds and sights showing the geographical context and zoom into the detail of the place (many films rely on representation of place to tell their story

media - tv, film, music, art, photography, literature, graffiti and blogs

Question 2

Informal

E.g: NEWCASTLE

Answer 2

• Song - Leave Fast = run down, bad QoL, neglected, somewhere you leave quickly or never leave, unhappy
• Photos - rough and rundown, deindustrialised, neglected
• Artical/Ad - culturally diverse, tourism, good uni/education opp
• Website - lots of tourism, welcoming, lots to do
• TV - party life, singles, young demographic

Question 3

informal

E.g: NYC

Answer 3

• Music - violence/gangs, young demo, social divide
• Photos - tourism focus, vibrant, hustle and bustle, investment
• Art - discrimination, meaningful, disparities, culture
• Films - young adult, crime and gangs, disparity of wealth
• TV - good standard of living - romanticised, young demo, dense housing

Question 4

What is useful/limiting about informal representations?

x8 ideas

Answer 4

• it is interpreted by individuals and can be biased
• can be used for certain purposes eg tourism, news, ads, entertainment = will be directed to that and may not be representative of the city
• demographic that it is being aimed at eg for tourists vs trying to attract students would represent the place differently
• time - changes - historically was an industrial city = affect how people view it now
• informal and personal representations are based on an individuals understanding of a place and this my vary according to factors such as age and gender
• photos taken by a person who chose to take it for a particular reason - personal bias
• TV dramatizes the formal representations = isn’t accurate to place in real life
• arts picks out most dramatic themes to explore

Question 5

What are formal representations of place?

definition and informal agencies

Answer 5

Formal - linked with statistics which describe the data associated with a particular place

• census data - personal info: birth date, gender, education, ethnicity, religion, health, housing and employment (basic source of data is the household)
• numerical data - representing rural places - geospatial data

Question 6

formal

Eg NEWCASTLE

Answer 6

• 56% econ active
• 27000 homes rented from local council = less wealth
• v high transition year demographic = young pop
• dec 2021 - 394 violence and sexual crime = unsafe, not nice

Question 7

formal

E.g NYC

Answer 7

• econ divide - Manhattan
• median age 30-40
• Bronx v diverse and Manhattan is v white
• quite diverse place
• high rent housing
• high theft and crime
• SE has less poverty

Question 8

what is useful/limiting about formal representations?

Answer 8

• objective stats = useful as it is accurate data and can be compared to other places
• stats may not reflect a places’ identity/representative
• where boundary should be drawn when collecting geospatial data - subjectivity bias