Changing Places

Question 1

What happened in the Kletzker Brotherly Aid Society?

Answer 1

Originally provided aid for Jewish immigrants and became a representation of Jewish resilience post WWII, but now turned into a Chinese funeral home and so has lost the sense of originality.

Question 2

What happened to the Forward Building?

Answer 2

Originally acted as an educational centre for Jewish migrants and was home to a socialist newspaper and represented the cultural and social significance of the Jewish community, but now has become a place for $15,000 flats –> placelessness.

Question 3

What kind of gentrifiers are there?

Answer 3

Pioneer, mature, and super

Question 4

What is gentrification?

Answer 4

An urban process taking place in inner cities. Middle class people move closer to the centre of the city, buying properties and renovating so the overall value increases. It can lead to restaurants and shops who are more independently owned to be replaced by more well-known retailers, and leads to a significant change in the social character of a place

Question 4

Positive impacts of gentrification (DESC)

Answer 4

D - brings changes to the social fabric of the area, bringing different lifestyles, interests and social networks.
E - Boosts city revenues, and shopping/retail services are improved
S - reduced crime rates due to increased investments that are implemented into public safety.
C - new foods and ideas, architecture is also influenced and can be renovated to be more modern.

Question 5

Negative impacts of gentrification (DESC)

Answer 5

D - Changes in income can alter income distribution, lower income people may be displaced due to increase in prices.
E - rent prices increase, greater proportion of government spending is placed into things that do not benefit those on lower/middle income
S - loss of affordable housing, changes in architecture can be hostile to people that are homeless, pushing an ‘us and them’ mentality.

Question 6

What is a globalised place and give the example we use?

Answer 6

It is a place that is constantly changing by the influence and elements of the wider world.
We use SPITTAL FIELDS as it has constant flows of people, products and investment, and is popular for the garment industry

Question 7

Some facts about SPITTAL FIELDS

Answer 7

• Jewish population in spitalfield fled to London from East Europe in the 19th century, which influenced the increase of synagogues built in the area
  Bangladeshi population increase in the 1960’s which influenced the increase of leather shops on Brick Lane.
  West African population increased due to the wax fabric industry which lead to 35 shops on Petticoat lane.

Question 8

What is the definition of character of a place?

Answer 8

features (human or physical) that help distinguish it from another place. This can be either exogenous or endogenous.

Question 9

Endogenous meaning and examples.

Answer 9

factors shaping a place from within
examples; topography, built environment, location, land use, demographic characteristics, and economic characteristics

Question 10

Exogenous meaning and examples.

Answer 10

factors shaping a place that originate from without, or externally.
examples: flows of people, flows of resources, flows of investment and capital, flows of ideas.

Question 11

Globalised places increase the placelessness of places. What is placenessless?

Answer 11

Placelessness is the casual eradication of distinctive places and the deliberate making of standardised landscapes and the weakening of the identity of places to the point where they start to both look alike and offer the same bland possibilities for experience

Question 12

Place where placelessness is seen as a good thing?

Answer 12

MURCIA, Spain -
Enrique Marhuenda: the day we have a starbucks, Murcia will be an important city.
It will help them be put on the map of global cities that have popular chain stores, could lead to multiplier effect

Question 13

Place where placelessness is a bad thing?

Answer 13

MONTMARTE, France -
Many of the residents believe it is a joke that the chain wants to plant themselves there.
The intrusion of high retail chain stores would ruin the atmosphere.

Question 14

What is the cittaslow movement?

Answer 14

• they aim to focus on the quality of life and sustainable use of natural resources in the area, and are often implemented into ‘slow towns’. Value is placed on the environment and cultural traditions and pollution is reduced.

Question 15

How are external factors changing places?

Answer 15

On Global, international and local scale
- GLOBAL: Movement of TNCs from developed to developing (DETROIT), leads to deindustrialisation and unemployment (economic), wealthier people moving out and away (more social deprivation)
- INTERNATIONAL: government policies decide where to invest money -> regeneration during the Olympics in 2016, westfields in London created jobs and reduced poverty in the area, it can change demographics which encourages people to live there. Migrate polices also influence demographic and cultures
- LOCAL: local community groups can support those in need (social)

Question 16

If a question every asks about external forces, what should you refer to

Answer 16

• TNCs (global), government (international) and local groups (local)
• this ensures a range of different scales and how it can change a place

Question 17

What is an example of a place rebranding (far away)

Answer 17

New York, introducing the I Love New York

• There was a slump in 1976, and so they looked for tourism to turn this around.
  $400,000 from government means kick-started the idea of needed tourism, with it all being spent on market research. Then, Madison Avenue produced the brilliant title of I LOVE NEW YORK.
• Strengthened in September of 2001, when the world joined New Yorkers in expressing their love for the city after the tragic incident of 9/11.

Question 18

What is an example of a place rebranding (locally)

Answer 18

People make Glasgow

• They engaged with 1000’s across the globe and encouraged them to have a say on what the city could improve on and share their ideas.
• More than 1,500 people from 42 countries contributed to the conversation and trends in responses were found: that it’s the city people that make the city great.

Question 19

Informal ways places can be represented?

Answer 19

• media
• TV and film
• photographs
• blogs and vlogs
• newspapers
• graffiti and art -> Banksy

Question 20

Formal ways places can be represented?

Answer 20

• Statistics -> census data
• Population data, IMD (deprivation), Police uk (crime)
• Cartography -> comparing maps over time (used whenn looking at Lower East York.

Question 21

What is regeneration?

Answer 21

the physical improvement of a place, done through an investment of an external force

Question 22

Differences between regeneration and gentrification?

Answer 22

regeneration if the physical improvement of a place, but the gentrification of a place is the changing demographic of a place, usually done by wealthier people moving.

Question 23

What is the Burgess Model

Answer 23

The 5 rings of who lives in what are of the city.
The outside ring is the High Class residents
The inner ring is CBD (Central Business District)
The next inner ring is factories
The third inner ring is Low Class residents
The second outer ring is Middle Class residents

Question 24

what is locale

Answer 24

settings of everyday life e.g. a work place

Question 25

what is sense of place

Answer 25

the subjective and emotional attachement people have to a place

Question 26

what is location

Answer 26

a point on the map e.g. longitude and latitude

Question 27

Example of how places are represented

Answer 27

Many books on Africa have a picture on the front of a big red sunset and an acacia tree in front of it

Question 28

Resistance against stereotypes?

Answer 28

theafricathemediadoesntshowyou

“yes we live in ‘HUTS’” and it’s a picture of a massive four story house with a lit up pool and marble walls

Question 29

Meaning of dynamic place?

Answer 29

a place that is characterised by change, activity or progress

Question 30

Example of socio-spatial exclusion

Answer 30

Homeless people
- hostile architecture (sloping benches, spiked floors)
- increasing laws that criminalise homelessness (no sleeping in public, no giving food to the homeless)

Question 31

How do different people experience place? think about gender, race, and age

Answer 31

gender: 10 hours walking alone in NYC
age: longer pedestrian crossing times for old people in Singapore
race: walking while black by Garnette Cadogan

Question 32

what is a descriptive way of theorising place

Answer 32

focusing on the place’s unique characteristics

Question 33

what is a social constructionist way of theorising place

Answer 33

that a place is a product of a particular set of social processes, and thinking about why a place is like it is

Question 34

what is a phenomenological way of theorising place

Answer 34

thinking about how individuals experience place and what the personal relationship between person and place is

Question 35

what is gentrification

Answer 35

an urban process taking place in the inner city areas of MEDC cities, where individuals move into older housing and physically improve it.
It leads to significant change in the social character of a place

Question 36

Who are the gentrifiers

Answer 36

individuals buying a fixer upper and do all the work themselves (Josh and Matt)
Mature gentrifiers who are high earners such as bankers
Super gentrifiers who are wealthy foreign investors and city bonuses

Question 37

Census data on LES

Answer 37

• most of the residents are students or have been in education
• 99% of housing occupancy is multiunit
• poverty rate is 25% less than citywide median
• 36.7% of the LES population were ‘foreign born’
• 25% of the people have an average salary of $100000-$250000