Changing Places Flashcards
Place definition
Place - a location which can be plotted on a map or defined by a grid reference eg latitude
Things that make up places
Things that make up places:
-Location
-Its physical characteristics
-Its human characteristics
-Things that flow in and out of that place eg people and money
-The sense of place ie the emotional meanings
Why are aspects and meanings of places constantly changing?
-Physics characteristics of places change over long time scales
-Human characterstics can change over whole lifetimes
-The flows in and out of a place change
-The sense of place individuals or groups have may change
Why is the idea of place important?
Idea of place is important becaise many people create their identity based on the places that they feel connected
Scales of which people create shared identities
Local scale - eg within a village
-Regional
-National
Insiders within places
An insider is someone who is fimilar with a palces and who feels welcome in that place
Outsiders within places
An outsider is someone who feels unwelcome or excluded from a palce
Experienced places
Experienced places are places that people have spent time in
Media places
Media places are places that people have not been to, but have created a sense of place for through their depiction in media
Globalisation
The process of the world’s economies, political systems and cultures becoming interconnected
How had globalisation affected people’s experience of geographical distance?
-Improvements in travel technology > far places are quicker to go to > can be experienced easily and frequently
-Improvements in ICT > familiarity with media places
-Via the internet
Placelessness
Placelessness - describes how globalisation is making distant places look and feel the same
Placemaking
Placemaking = The deliberate shaping of an environment to facilitate social interaction and improve a community’s quality of life
Sense of place
Sense of place = Refers to the subjective and emotional attachment people have to a place
Subjective
Subjective - based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes or opinions
3 theoretical approaches to place
The three theoretical approaches to place:
-A descriptive approach
-A social constructionist approach
-A phenomenological approach
The descriptive approach to place
Descriptive approach to place:
Idea that the world is a set of places and each place can be studied and is distinct
The social constructionist approach to place
Social constructionist approach sees place as a product of a particular set of processes ocurring at a particular time eg seeing somewhere as a place of empire and colonalism due to past experiences
Phenomenological approach to place
Phenomenological approach to place = how an individual person experiences place, recognising relationships between place and person
Endogenous
Endogenous = internal factors which shapes a place’s character - could be physical (location, topography etc) or human (land use, infrastructure etc)
Exogenous
Exogenous = external factors which shapes a place’s character, including the relationship to other places and the flows in and out of aplace eg flow of people, resources, money and ideas
Location as an endogenous factor that shapes a place’s character
Location (refrers to where a place is) - eg ports on coastal places,
Physical geography as an endogenous factor
Physical geography - refres to environmental features of a place eg altitude, aspect, soil and rock type - forms different landscapes
Land use as an endogenous factor
Land use - refers to human activity onland - directly defines places.
Land use changes overtime ie deindustrialisation
Demographic characteristics
Demographic characteristics - who lives in a place and what they’re like eg age, gender etc
Directly contributes to character of places
Economic characteristics that shapes places
Economic factors - to do with work and money - directly contributes to characteristics of places
Why has flow of people, money, resources and ideas increased overtime?
Increased due to improvements of transport, communications eg the internet - increased globalisation
How does demographic characteristics of place change?
Demographic characteristics of place change due to:
-Flows of people can change (eg change in age/gender balance)
-Flows of money and investment (eg by governments of business, eg investing in places to make it more desirable than other places)
-Flows of ideas and resources (eg birth control changing birth rate and population size)
How do flows affect the cultural characteristics of a place?
-Flows of people: new people moving into places bring new cultures
-Flows of money, investment and ideas: cultural ideas such as companies like mcdonalds can change characteristics of a place
What can make someone feel like an outsider?
People may feel like an outsider because:
-Not born in that country
-Being temporary resident rather than permanent
-Not having right to vote/work
-Not fluent in the language
-Feeling homesick or isolated
Difference between connections and relationships?
Connection - how people are linked or associated to a place
Relationship - the interaction between a person and a place
Factors that affect the way that people relate and form connections with places
Factors that affect the way that people relate and form connections with places:
-Place factors (endogenous/exogenous)
-Perspectives (outsider/insider?)
-Scale (localism/regional/national/globalisaition)
-Time and experience
-Type of place (near/far/media/experienced)
Globalisation
Globalisation: the growing interdependance of countries worldwide through increased movement and exchanges of people, goods, services, money, technology and ideas
How does globalisation relate to place?
Globalisation relates to place:
-Time-space compression (makes places grow closer eg technology and transport)
-Idea of global village (connecting the world together via media)
-Impact on places: demographically, economically, socially, culturally, environmentally
Benefits of globalisation
Benefits of globalisation:
-Spread of wealth
-Growth of international cooperative political groups and stability
-Reduction in consumer prices
-Trade barriers, tariffs and quotas removed
-Cultural diversity
-Cheaper phone and internet links
-Wider choices
-Greater freedoms
-Global skill transfer
Challenges of globalisation
Challenges of globalisation:
-Rich get richer
-Loss of national identities
-Migration issues
-Loss of cultural identities
-Media control over population
-Brain drain from LICs
-LICs forced to reduce costs
-Racism
Why might someone feel like an outsider?
People may feel like an outsider due to:
-Being temporary residents
-Not being born in that country
-Lack rights to vote/own passports etc
-Misunderstand implicit social norms
-Feeling homesick/isolated
-Not being fluent in that language
Positionality
Positionality = Factors (eg age, gender etc) which influence how we percieve places
The affect of deindustrialisation on places
Affect of industrialisation on places:
-Affect the flow of people, money and resources
-Economy - mass unemployment
-Social > less money from unemployment > lack of services/poverty
Bourneville case study
Bourneville case study:
-Homes were built at the factory to provide employees who were originally living in harsh conditions
-Garden city movement: self-contained communities in greenbelt land, recreational spaces and parks, low density homes
Re-branding
Re-branding: replacing the negative perceptions of place with positive ones through physical change eg services + infrastructure. Increases migration but can cause conflict from local people who wants to conserve local communities
Re-imaging
Re-imaging: replacing negative perceptions of place with positive ones through changing the mental image of places > eg Liverpool (Tate Liverpool) + Amsterdam (I Amsterdam)
Corporate body
Corporate bodies are organisations/groups of people that is identified by a particular name, eg tourist agencies, train and airline companies, community and local groups (who provide ‘insider’ experience)
Examples of media representations of place
Media representation of place examples:
Photography/Textual sources/Poetry/Tv + Film/Paintings/Sculptures
Gentrification
Gentrification = improvement of housing in an area that was poor/run-down
Trafalgar Square case study
Trafalgar square case study: Lord Nelson Admiral statue - inspires pride + patriarchy - also used for political protests, however
Totnes case study
Totnes - protested against Costa - to prevent Totnes becoming a ‘clone town’
Port Sunlight, the Wirral case study
Port Sunlight, the Wirral - provided village for workers + services - eventually became Unilever
Devonport, Plymouth case study
Devonport, Plymouth case study - Originally a dockyard naval town - communities were split by a navy wall - ‘new deal for communities’ helped with crime, education etc
Medellin, Colombia case study
Medellin, Colombia case study - associated with drug and crime - Pablo Escabar - regenerated with new transport systems (metroplus, trams) + education schemes etc
Belfast case study
Belfast case study - redeveloped + rebranded - Titanic Quarter (built on brownfield site), promoted as ‘Creative + Cultural’ Belfast - mural that represent conflicting opinions (as it originally split communities apart but still stands)
Amsterdam case study
Amsterdam case study - I Amsterdam - re-imaged due to declining reputation + economy - brought in tourism and positive media attention
Insiders
Insiders are people who feel at home within a place, and may have the following characteristics:
-Born there
-Hold citizenship
-Fluent in local language and conform with idioms
-Conforms with social norms and behavioural traits common in that place
-They feel secure, safe, welcomed and happy
Outsiders
Opposite to insiders, factors that contribute to this may be:
-Not born in that area
-Doesn’t hold citizenship
-Not fluent in local language
-Not feeling accustomed to the culture, social norms and dialect of the majority of the community
This feeling of belonging or not belonging can change overtime
‘The other’
The other refers to people who are unfamiliar or different to the self - conflict and social tension can exist when people who do not have the same identity as other people they meet
-Makes it easier to be prejudiced against eg racism, xenophobia
Sources that provides information on places
Sources:
Census data
Field trips
Art and media
Songs
Poems
Advertising
Maps and photos
Definition of sense of place
Sense of place = meaning attributed to a place through our interaction with it
Perception of place definition
Perception of place = meaning attributed to a place that is developed through what we have heard, seen or read about
Corporate bodies
Corporate body = an organisation or group of people that is identified by a particular name eg institutions, businesses, non-profit enterprises and government agencies
UK sensus
UK sensus provides quantitative data - details the social and economic characteristics of the population eg age, gender, ethnicity etc - helps to better understand population growth and demographic changes
Ethnography
Ethnography = research methods that explores what people do as well as what they say
Media representations of place
Media representations of place:
-Photography
-Textual sources
-Poetry
-TV and film
-Art
-Paintings
-Sculptures
-Graffiti
Benefits of media representations of place
Media representations of place allows for people to sense and imagine what a place is like - it envokes the sense of place through personal meanings behind the representation
IMD
IMD = index of multiple deprivation = UK-government qualitative study measuring deprivation at small-area level across England - can be used to show economic inequality between places
Census data
Census data - useful in providing insight into past and present character of a place especially the demographic and economic characteristics eg Nomis (government website for national statistics)
+ = Reliable and factual
- = Quantitative data may ignore important opinions eg economic differences - does not reflect the residents
Advantages and disadvantages of art and media as media representations of place
Advantages and disadvantages of art and media as media representations of place:
+ = Major contributer to an area’s character, important to recognise the influence it has on sense of place
- = not quantitative, meaning it’s hard to compare/measure
Advertising as a media representation of place
Advertising : tourism and business sectors of a place advertise an area to attract people and investers
+ = Presents multiple dimensions of a place - lots of info in one source - attractions also add to character
- = may be one-sided and biased view
Maps and photos as media representations of place
Maps and photos - factual and objective view of a place - useful to comparing past and present places
+ = comparing past of a place is important to see development, not influence by opinions
- = photos could be subjective
Place meaning
Place meaning refers to the sense of place and character that different people give to a place - how a place is represented by tourist organisations, governments, corporate bodies and community groups
Glocalisation
Glocalisation is the process of adapting brands and products to suit the local market conditions such as laws or culture
Identity
Identity = the sense of who you are
Well-being
Well-being refers to the state of being happy, healthy and comfortable
Lympstone location
Lympstone:
-South west of England
-West Devon
-Near Exeter
-East of River Exe
Past characteristics of Lympstone
Past characteristics of Lympstone:
-Small port used in 13th century coastal and cross trading links
-Shipbuilding in the 19th century
-Estuary used for fishing
-Tourism increases in mid 18th century onwards
-1861: Railway built - time space compression
Time space compression
Time space compression refers to when distant places feel near due to shortened travel time
Natural characteristics of Lympstone
Natural characteristics of Lympstone:
-Edge of an estuary
-Extensive tidal mudflats that extend into estuary about 1.5km wide
-Pebble beaches along foot of cliff
Main demographic characteristics of Lympstone
Main demographic characteristics of Lympstone:
-98.9% white
-1.1% non-white
-55.6% 16-64
-24.65% over 65
Cultural characteristics of Lympstone
Lympstone lacks wide range of cultures
65.6% Christian
0.17% Muslim
Political characteristics of Lympstone
Political characteristics of Lympstone:
-Parish council with 11 elected people serving on local government body - limited power
Built environment characteristics of Lympstone
Built environment characteristics of Lympstone:
-Dormitory settlement - lots of buildings converted into residencies
-Preserved historical buildings as well as new larger modern homes being built - mainly for accomodation purposes for commutes
Socio-encomic characteristics of Lympstone
Socio-encomic characteristics of Lympstone:
-Most own their own house (above 60%)
-Less bad health than average (about 4%)
-Less crime than average
Agents of change examples
Agents of change:
-Government (seeks to improve an area through re-imaging, re-branding and regeneration)
-Corporate bodies (interest in regeneration of an areas, some seeks to manipulate perceptions for profit)
-Communities and local groups (either support or oppose changes, frequently involved due to insider knowledge of a place)
What are agents of change?
Agent of change is any group of people who work to impact a place through working there, living or trying to improving the place - aims to change the perception
Belonging definition
Belonging = feeling part of a community
Scales that identity is evident
Identity can be evident at a number of scales:
-Local
-Regional
-National
Examples of endogenous factors
Endogenous factors examples:
-Physical geography (relief, topography, rock type)
-Demographics
-Location
-Built environment
-Political factors
-Population mobility
-Cultural factors
-Socio-economic factors
Exogenous factors examples
Exogenous factors examples:
-Location relative to other places
-Tourism
-Flow of investment
-Migration
Result of deindustrialisation
Result of deindustrialisation:
-Flow of workers away
-Flow of money and investment out of the area
-Changes to economic structure
-Less disposable income of employees ->lack of investment into services ->higher levels of deprivation + poverty
Liverpool rebranding scheme
Liverpool rebranding scheme:
-Experienced decline of imports due to docks closing in 1980s -> high levels of crime, deprivation
-Experienced rebranding -> cultural events, football, Beatles music reputation, shopping destination with services
