Changing Places

Question 1

How do we distinguish place from location?

Answer 1

Place is more than just a location, but also incorporates the notions of ‘locale’ and ‘sense of place’.

Question 2

What is place made up of?

Answer 2

It’s location, the human characteristics, the physical characteristics, all the things that flow in and out of that place, the sense of place.

Question 3

How are the physical characteristics of place constantly changing?

Answer 3

The physical characteristics can change over long time scales such as a river migrates or short time scales e.g a volcano erupts and alters the landscape

Question 4

How are the human characteristics of place constantly changing?

Answer 4

The human characteristics can change over whole lifetimes, e.g as new people are born or others die in a place, or shorter time scales such as when people migrate in and out of a place.

Question 5

How are the flows of a place constantly changing?

Answer 5

Flows of money could change when a multinational corporation (MNC) invests in infrastructure of a place.

Question 6

How is the sense of place of place constantly changing?

Answer 6

The sense of place individuals or groups have may change.

Question 7

What is an example of a place that can be linked with location, locale, sense of place?

Answer 7

Glastonbury is located in the county of Somerset, 23 miles South of Bristol. It is home to great spiritual pagan beliefs and a number of visitor attractions. Many people view Glastonbury for its annual music festival.

Question 8

What is the relationship between identity and place?

Answer 8

Our sense of place, the meaning we give to a location, can be so strong that it features as a central part of our identity.

Question 9

What is localism?

Answer 9

An affection for or ownership of a particular place

Question 10

What is regionalism?

Answer 10

Consciousness of, and loyalty to, a district region with a population that shares similarities.

Question 11

What is nationalism?

Answer 11

Loyalty and devotion to a nation, which creates a sense of national consciousness (e.g patriotism)

Question 12

Who are insiders?

Answer 12

Someone who is familiar with a place and who feels welcome in that place, they feel like they belong there. People are more likely to feel like insiders in near places.

Question 13

Who are outsiders?

Answer 13

Someone who feels unwelcome or excluded from a place, they don’t feel like they belong. People are more likely to feel like outsiders in far places.

Question 14

What factors affect if someone is an insider or outsider?

Answer 14

Age, gender, sexuality, religion, beliefs, race/ethnicity, language, accent, socio-economic status, level of education, etc.

Question 15

What is globalisation?

Answer 15

Globalisation is the increase in interconnectivity between places: social, economically and politically.

Question 16

What are the positive effects of globalisation?

Answer 16

Shared culture, profits for MNCs, employment for people in LICs

Question 17

What are the negative affects of globalisation?

Answer 17

Host countries can manipulate source countries. International and national transport is polluting the earth.

Question 18

What is a homogenised society?

Answer 18

It refers to the reduction in cultural diversity, meaning that places are all becoming the same (clone towns).

Question 19

What is glocalisation?

Answer 19

It is a response to globalisation. This centres on the promotion of local goods and services and the adaptation of global products to the specific locality in and effort to regain local cultures and identities.

Question 20

What does it mean to belong to a place?

Answer 20

To belong means to be part of the community.

Question 21

What is an example of place where there is a great sense of belonging?

Answer 21

London is often referred to as one of the most multicultural cities as it hosts a number of festivals such as Chinese New Year, the Hindu Festival of Lights and the festival of Arab culture.

Question 22

What four main features make a great place?

Answer 22

Sociability, uses and activities, comfort and image, access and linkages.

Question 23

What is the Transition town movement?

Answer 23

It is about communities stepping up to address the big challenges they face by starting local. They are reclaiming the economy, sparking entrepreneurship, reimagining work, reskilling themselves and weaving webs if connection and support.

Question 24

What three things does the Transition town movement try to find a balance between?

Answer 24

The head, acting on the basis of the best information and evidence.
The heart, working with compassion.
The hands, turning their vision and ideas into a reality with practical projects

Question 25

Why do people migrate to the UK?

Answer 25

Some are looking for a job, they have a definite job, to accompany or join someone, to study or for other.

Question 26

What are near places?

Answer 26

Near places can be thought of as geographically near to where a person lives, or it could describe the emotional connection to a place as being near.

Question 27

What are far places?

Answer 27

Far places can be geographically distant from where a person lives or how weak their emotional connection to a place is.

Question 28

How has globalisation affected peoples experience of geographical distance?

Answer 28

Improvements in travel technology mean that you can get to far places faster and therefore they can be experienced more frequently. Improvements in ICT means that people can be very familiar with media places. People can also remain closely connected with people and activities in far places via the internet.

Question 29

How can global companies make people feel close to far places?

Answer 29

Global companies and products mean that far places can feel very similar to near places e.g city centres in different parts of the world may have the same stores/restaurants selling the same products.

Question 30

What is meant by the term placelessness?

Answer 30

A term used to describe how globalisation is making distant places look and feel the same.

Question 31

What is meant by experienced places?

Answer 31

They are places where people have spent time in. A persons experience at this places shapes their sense of place of that place.

Question 32

What is meant by media places?

Answer 32

Places where people have not been, but they have created a sense of place for through their depiction in media.

Question 33

What is meant by exogenous factors?

Answer 33

The external factors which shape a places character, including the relationship to other places and the flows in and out of that place.

Question 34

What is meant by endogenous factors?

Answer 34

The internal factors which shape a places character. These could be physical or human.

Question 35

What physical endogenous factors shape a places character?

Answer 35

A places location, its topography and its physical geography (geology, natural resources etc)

Question 36

What human endogenous factors shape a place?

Answer 36

The land use, built environment/infrastructure and the demographic/ economic characteristics.

Question 37

How can exogenous factors affect the character of a place?

Answer 37

Influenced by their relative location to other places (villages and towns), tourism (casinos/hotels create employment), flows of investment (Japanese Nissan has a factory in Sunderland) and migration (ethical diversity).

Question 38

What is/are the demographic characteristics?

Answer 38

They are to do with who lives in a place and what they’re like (age, gender, education level, religion, birth rates, ethnicity and population size)

Question 39

How can the demographic characteristics of a place change?

Answer 39

They can change due to the effects of changing external flow. Flows of people, flows of money/investment and flows of ideas/resources.

Question 40

How do the external flows affect the cultural characteristics of a place?

Answer 40

The flows of people (bringing/ learning new cultures as they travel/move), flows of money and ideas (fast food).

Question 41

How are economic characteristics affected by different flows?

Answer 41

Flows of people (Cornwall used to be a fishing settlement but is now more a tourist attraction). Flows of resources (products can now be sold globally). Flows of money and investment (positive and negative impacts on economic characteristics, e.g reduced investment can lead to deindustrialisation)

Question 42

How do these flows affect social inequality?

Answer 42

Flows of people, (regional migration from rural to urban areas in poorer countries has changed levels of social inequality, e.g In Mumbai, there are a lot of slums due to this). Flows of resources (the outward flow of natural resources from poorer countries, e.g in Nigeria large amounts of oil is exported, but most of the profits go to the richer people). Flows of money and investment through the process of gentrification has improved areas, but also increased inequality.

Question 43

What is the Butler Model?

Answer 43

Butler proposed that most tourist resorts go through a six stage model and he called this the tourism life cycle model. It states that most tourist resorts start on a very small scale and get bigger and bigger until stagnation occurs.

Question 44

Where is an example of a changing place that can be linked to the Butler model?

Answer 44

Blackpool. It is now a tourism based city in England, known for ‘Blackpool pleasure beach’. Over time it has become more developed and tourism has increased, however airline and other transport becomes cheaper so people can travel further distances.

Question 45

What factors affect Blackpool’s change?

Answer 45

Geography- coastal erosion.
Sociability- drunk and disorderly behaviour (deterrent)
Media- advertising and Merlin rep.
Access- access links have now improved.

Question 46

Why do places change?

Answer 46

Political change, industrial decline, natural disasters, tourism, global communications (infrastructure), migration, natural resources. They are all driven by the agents of change.

Question 47

How has Medellin, Colombia changed over time?

Answer 47

It used to be known for drugs and violence due to its gangs and drug Lord Pablo Escobar. When he died in 1993, the city went under regeneration, with improvements in infrastructure and education and less divisions between social classes. The poorest people have access to the city centre now through public transport improvements.

Question 48

How has Bournville Village in Birmingham remained the same throughout the years?

Answer 48

It was shaped by the ideals of the industrial Cadbury’s family and was built in the late 19th century. The area provided plenty space for the factories as well as sanitary living conditions for the workers. The Bournville village trust set up schools, hospitals, public baths and recreation grounds. Nowadays it is no longer inhabited by just the workers, but the physical appearance has remained the same.

Question 49

How has Devonport, Plymouth changed so rapidly?

Answer 49

Mainly changed as a result of external factors. It was a well-established naval dockyard up until the Second World War, when the community was split in two and displaced residents were rehoused in flats, ill suited to family living. From 2001-2011, Devonport had the naval wall removed, inter-war housing was demolished and the regeneration attracted a wider range of people.

Question 50

How has Belfast changed throughout the years?

Answer 50

The city has undergone sustained economic and commercial growth since the Good Friday Peace Agreement that was signed 1998. They city has been rebranded as ‘quarters’ which each emphasise their unique history and culture.

Question 51

What is the representation of place?

Answer 51

The representation of place is a how individuals, organisations such as businesses or councils, portray places they know about to others.

Question 52

Why are meanings and representation important?

Answer 52

They can change how people behave towards those places, e.g positive feelings may make a person decide to go on holiday or invest in a business there. Whilst negative feelings may make them avoid that place.

Question 53

Which groups influence our perception of place?

Answer 53

Governments, both nationally and locally, might invest or attract people to the place.
Corporate bodies might do this to generate profits or because they have been set up for a specific purpose.
Community or local groups might change the perception of place to improve the local economy or the lives of the local people.

Question 54

What are the three main strategies used to alter the perception of place?

Answer 54

Place marketing, reimaging and rebranding.

Question 55

What us place marketing?

Answer 55

It is how places are ‘sold’, the people who will potentially visit, move or invest money into the area. Marketing companies may be employed to run advertising campaigns or social media pages in order to promote a particular place.

Question 56

What is reimaging?

Answer 56

It is about changing existing negative perceptions of places and making them positive.

Question 57

What is rebranding?

Answer 57

It is about giving a place a new identity that is appealing to people and investors. It is achieved through reimaging, place marketing and regeneration schemes.

Question 58

Who are the agents of change?

Answer 58

Government policies, the decisions of multinational corporations, the impacts of international or global institutions (WHO, UN)

Question 59

What are quantitative data sources?

Answer 59

They are numerical or statistical analyses

Question 60

What are qualitative data sources?

Answer 60

It involves the interpretative, naturalist approach to its subject matter. “Data focused around our personal perspective of a place, rather than facts.”