changing place topic questions

Question 1

Explain how exogenous factors contribute to the character of a place

Answer 1

• Exogenous factors are those which have an external cause
  or origin (1).
• For example, links to other places, routeways connecting
  places or policies made by external forces (1).
• Exogenous factors often represent the flow of different things across space such as flows of people, money or
  ideas (1).
• Exogenous factors such as flows of people change the
  character of places (1)
• for example, large numbers of South Asian migrants in Manchester have created the
  Curry Mile in Rusholme (d)
• The character of the area is now dominated by curry restaurants, colourful sari shops
  and supermarkets selling exotic vegetables with many different languages being spoken (d).
• Relationships with other places can shape the character of a place (1)
• for example Helford Passage in Cornwall has
  many links with London as wealthy London residents have brought second homes (d)
• as a result, local services such as milk deliveries have closed down and many homes are empty for much of the year (d).
• Flows of investment into city centres by chain stores is also
  an exogenous factor (1)
• this causes homogenisation of
  town centres, meaning they lose individual character (d).

Question 2

explain how globalisation processes may influence a local place

Answer 2

• Globalisation can be defined as the increasing
  interconnectedness of the world’s economic, cultural and
  political systems (1) – this has had numerous effects on
  the notion of place.
• economic sense, globalisation has brought a growth on financial flows and TNC activity (1)
• large corporations who have expanded operations into local areas an example of this is the rapid rise of chain stores
  such as Starbucks, McDonalds etc… (d)
• who have begun to turn many local high streets into ‘clone towns,’ pushing local businesses out (d)
• In other places, such as Cobham in Surrey, a small town,
  Chelsea FC have spent over £5m on new training ground,
  facilities etc… (1) – this has led to a multiplier effect in the
  area with many wealthier people / ‘celebrities’ moving in
  since. (d)
• In Stratford, London; the Olympic Games (an example of
  cultural globalisation) have brought increasing prosperity
  but also division among the populace (1)
• with foreign investments ‘pricing’ some long-time locals out of the area
  and causing forced displacement. (d)
• Others see it as beneficial in gentrifying deindustrialised or declined urban areas. (d)
• In another dimension, local places have been opened up through social interconnectivity, which has grown over time thanks to connections such as phones, the internet & email (1)

Question 3

highlight why some people may resist change of place

Answer 3

• a place is defined as a location with meaning and often people hold intangible ‘feelings’ towards their places, either near or far (1)
• for many people, they want a sense of ‘continuity’ in their place, as they often call the area home (d)
• In many places, for example the Midlands, processes of deindustrialisation have led to the decline in millions of jobs
  and prospects (1)
• this can exacerbate many
  socioeconomic consequences for the locals, including poverty, unemployment, brain-drain, aging populations etc… (d)
• so in these regions many people have ‘rose-tinted’ glasses and wish for their place to return to its heyday. (d)
• Contrastingly, in some areas, for example London’s East End, protest groups such as Focus E15 have been founded to campaign against the gentrification and exogenous forces (such as TNCs) changing their local
  area (1)
• which whilst it brings wealth and opportunity for some, has also led to forced displacement and worsened social inequalities for those in marginalised positions. (d)
• Locals may resist other changes, for example in rural England, which could be deemed to damage the ‘villagelike’ feel of many places. (1)
• Rural communities often
  have been together for many years and thus are more sceptical of any changes to their way of life. (d)
• Additionally, some people may have environmental grounds for concern. (d)

Question 4

outline how geospatial data can be used to present place characteristics

Answer 4

• Data collected in the field has location information tied to it
  such as latitude and longitude co-ordinates (1). This can
  then be used in a GIS programme to plot the location of
  the data (d). For example, environmental quality survey
  results can be shown to see how it changes across a town.
  (d)
• GIS systems such as ArcGIS display geospatial data and
  can be used to show how place characteristics change
  across an area (1). For example, numbers of unemployed
  people could be presented as proportional circles on top of
  a base-map (1). This makes it clear to see how
  unemployment changes across a given area and can be
  related to other characteristics such as land-use (d).
• Geotagged information such as geotagged tweets can be
  used to look at place characteristics (1). For example,
  insider and outsider perspectives on place characteristics
  could be gathered by using hashtags and geotags (d).
• Quantitative data can be geo-located and then can be
  used to show change in place characteristics across
  different wards (1). For example, the Index of Multiple
  deprivation measures deprivation according to small areas
  (LSOAs) and so can be mapped to show how deprivation
  changes (d).
• Geospatial data helped me to understand how ethnicity
  changes across Blackburn (1). I used the 2011 census
  data to collect ethnicity data from Super Output areas (d). I
  then showed this as a series of choropleth maps showing
  concentrations of different ethnicities (d)

Question 5

Explain why organisations such as governments or corporate bodies manipulate perception of place

Answer 5

• The perception of a place is held by an individual or group
  of people – this can change and is often linked to place
  memory or history. (1) Governments or external agencies
  may aim to dictate public place perception in order to
  improve its representation. (d)
• This may be through one of a few programs – reimaging/
  rebranding or regeneration; often working with corporate
  bodies and/ or community groups to present this. (1)
• Place reimaging/rebranding may be smaller-scale
  initiatives to boost the appeal of an area to either live in or
  invest in as part of government programs. (1) An example
  of this is the ‘city of culture’ programs which typically target
  areas which are deemed to be culturally relevant but
  underdeveloped. (d)
• Looking beyond our borders, there are examples such as
  the highly successful marketing ‘I [am]sterdam’ program to
  counteract the loss in tourism revenue to other European
  cities. (1) This is both a motto and a brand for the city itself
  and is credited with being a key element in its renaissance
  recently. (d)
• Sometimes these will be combined, which is what occurred
  in Stratford in the 2012 Olympic Games. Over £9 Billion
  was spent to reimaging over 500 acres of land and
  convince the public of the reinvigorated ‘east end’ of
  London – formerly deprived and deindustrialised, on the
  world’s stage. (1)