Human - Changing Places

Question 1

The Nature and Importance of Places:

The concept of a place:

Answer 1

Place: a space with meaning, shaped by social, economic, cultural and political connections to other places.

Question 2

The Nature and Importance of Places:

The concept of a place:

Answer 2

John Agnew says that a space becomes a place when it has:

1. A specific location (a place’s latitude and longitude coordinates on a map).
2. A locale (the setting for social relations that make it unique, the space where something happens, or that has events associated with it.)
3. A sense of place (the subjective and emotional attachment people have to a place, developed through experience and knowledge of the area. It is when our psychological processes relate to the place’s dimensions).

A place doesn’t need to be static (a car/boat), and are dynamic and have various connections and constant changes. Place can be represented in a formal, abstract or informal way.
Place is a social construct, as the sense of place is subjective to each person.

Question 3

The Nature and Importance of Places:

Importance of place in human life and experience:

Answer 3

Place is where we can survive and learn and better ourselves.
We call some places ‘home’ when they are very familiar and have deep connections for us.

Yi-Fu Tuan says that the way that our understanding of the environment and our attachment to a place is, expands with age. The depth of feeling we have for a place is influenced by the depth of knowledge and understanding we have of it.
(As a baby we think of our mother’s arms as ‘home’, but as we age, we know it is not a place).

Question 4

The Nature and Importance of Places:

Insider Perspectives:

Answer 4

Insider perspectives:
An insider is someone that belongs and identifies with the place. They have a strong connection to it and may feel/look/act like you belong in the place. Insiders develop a sense of place through everyday experiences in familiar settings (habits and shared experience).

Question 5

The Nature and Importance of Places:

Outsider Perspectives:

Answer 5

Outsider perspective: To be an outsider, is to feel you are unable to identify with the place. For outsiders, the sense of place is more vague or abstract. It is often a view of discovery, a personal view of learning how to become an insider, through the social norms of the place.

EX: Immigrants, foreigners, language ability, social norms or behaviours, state of mind.
EX: Brick Lane Bangladeshi community, homeless communities, black communities in cities (2% in countryside), poorer communities in rich areas (Notting Hill), gay people in churches.

Question 6

The Nature and Importance of Places:

Categories of place (Experienced place):

Answer 6

Experienced places:
Those that a person has physically spent time in - it is this experience that turns spaces into places. This experience changes the place from a vagueness into a place with connections and meaning to us.

Question 7

The Nature and Importance of Places:

Categories of place (Media place):

Answer 7

Media place:
Those that a person has only read about or seen in the media, and develop their sense of place through that. The ‘reality’ of a place can be different to that put across by the media, and the attachments a person can have to these areas can be very un-realistic.
EX: Rural towns in the UK are presented as the ‘rural idyll’, but there is poverty and unemployment there.

Jet-setting is a new trend due to globalisation, where people go to their media places (Game of Thrones attracting tourism to Iceland/NZ).

Question 8

The Nature and Importance of Places:

Endogenous factors contributing to the character of a place:

Answer 8

Endogenous factors:
1. Location: The site/situation of a place attracts the best people, TNCs, FDI, jobs, etc. It is crucial in the operation/identity of the place (rivers in cities/weather/connections). (The Thames allows boats to interact with London).

2. Topography: Height fundamentally changes a place and its capacity for success (London vs Tibet). The relief of a place - the easier to navigate is better (flat lands > mountains). The closer to sea level, the easier development is.
3. Physical Geography: The geology, geography, drainage systems or floodplains of a place can determine its capability to succeed. The soil type of a place can dictate agriculture, geology can determine buildings (limestone in Paris).

Question 9

The Nature and Importance of Places:

Endogenous factors contributing to the character of a place:

Answer 9

4. Land Use: Differences in land use (residential/entertainment/open spaces/commercial/industrial/services) can all change the sense of place and locale.
5. Built Environment/Infrastructure: The type of building can affect a place (links to land use). It can ‘set the place’ (e.g. skyscrapers normally connote the financial district). The age of the buildings shows tech advances and developments of the place. The infrastructure development can lead to a positive feedback loop of more infrastructure, leading to TNCs and FDI.
   Electricity, railways, transport links, airports, roads, businesses all dictate how connected and developed a place is. (The more useful infrastructure, the more capacity for development).
6. Demographics and economic characteristics: Languages, citizenships, cultural/community homogenisation, age structures, wealth, ethnicity, religion, all play a role in the sense of place. (London is very homogenised, diverse and can be called an ‘international place’, with the people and economic connections.
   Economic factors are really what creates a place, it creates the physical place (buildings), and also draws in people, develops tech, etc. (London and Paris vs Lagos or Tibet are thought of very differently).

Question 10

The Nature and Importance of Places:

Exogenous factors contributing to the character of a place (not in course):

Answer 10

1. Resources
2. Capital
3. Investment (FDI/TNCs)
4. People
5. Ideas (urban planners/tech)

Question 11

Relationships, Connections, Meaning and Representation:

Relationships and Connections - External forces on place:

Answer 11

External forces cause places to change:

• Historically, endogenous factors have been the most important in shaping a place (mining towns, etc).
• Due to globalisation, external forces have become more important.
• Flows of people, money, resources and ideas between places have increased, due to better transport and comms (the internet). This globalisation has allows stronger connections over larger distances.

Question 12

Relationships, Connections, Meaning and Representation:
Relationships and Connections - External forces on place:
Demographic change:

Answer 12

Demographic change is caused by shifting flows:

• Who lives in this place, and their characteristics (age, gender, education level, religion, birth rates, ethnicity, population size, etc).
• This changes due to external flows:
  1. Flows of people: changes the balance of types of people. (EX: local scale - younger people moving to cities from rural areas for work. Global scale - majority male migration from Africa to Europe).
  2. Flows of money and investment (by govs or TNCs or businesses): Gov investment can attract people to live there. (EX: London Dockland’s redevelopment doubled the population into now mainly white professionals now).
  3. Flows of ideas and resources: ideas like birth control and family planning can limit population growth.

Question 13

Relationships, Connections, Meaning and Representation:
Relationships and Connections - External forces on place:
Cultural change:

Answer 13

The cultural characteristics of a place are to do with how people live (customs, language, art, beliefs)
These can change due to external factors:
1. Flows of people: people with other cultures bring them to places (EX: the Windrush generation brought new cultural communities to the UK, esp London).
2. Flows of money, investment and ideas: new cultural ideas can change places. (EX: western fast food places opening in Asia, making food culture more westernised).

Question 14

Relationships, Connections, Meaning and Representation:
Relationships and Connections - External forces on place:
Economic change:

Answer 14

The economics of a place is to do with work and money (income, employment rates, types of available jobs).
They can change due to external flows:
1. Flows of people: more/different people change the economics (EX: once fishing towns, become service based jobs through tourism, like Cornwall).
2. Flows of resources: the outward flow of natural resources or local products can impact economies by selling on global markets. (EX: Scottish Whiskey sold globally from island communities).
3. Flows of money and investment: can have positive and negative impacts on the economic characteristics of places. (negative is deindustrialisation due to globalisation) (positive is creating wealth in cities with globalised transport links).

Question 15

Relationships, Connections, Meaning and Representation:
Relationships and Connections - External forces on place:
Social change:

Answer 15

The social characteristics of places are to do with what people’s lives are like (quality of life, access to food supplies healthcare, education, leisure.
Social inequalities are the differences in these factors between different groups of people.
These can change due to external factors:
1. Flows of people: regional migration from rural to urban areas in poorer countries has changed social characteristics and levels of inequality. (EX: In Mumbai, there are wealthy people and migrants in slums from rural areas).
2. Flows of resources: the outward flow of natural resources from poorer countries can change levels of inequality. (EX: Oil exports from Nigeria, but the wealth it creates goes to a few people, while the rest live in poverty).
3. Flows of money and investment: the process of gentrification has improved the social characteristics of places, but increases inequalities (EX: Notting Hill, as poorer people are forced out by rising prices).

Question 16

Relationships, Connections, Meaning and Representation:

Relationships and Connections - Present and Past Connections:

Answer 16

• Connections between places in the past shape their character in the present (EX: London and NYC were once connected by sea trade routes, which made them wealthy, attracting more people and have closer links to other cultures. They became world cities as tech developed + glob).
• New connections between places in the present can affect their character. (EX: London and NYC have made new connections as world cities, and are now more closely connected through industries like finance and banking due to the internet and fast travel).

Question 17

Relationships, Connections, Meaning and Representation:

Relationships and Connections - Present and Past Connections:

Answer 17

• Ways that places developed in the past, affects their present character:
  1. Many UK cities were originally developed due to location (endogenous factors) - Sheffield due to its rivers and proximity to coal and iron reserves, this led to development of industry.
  2. Due to the industrial revolution, these cities developed and became globally connected through trade of goods produced. Resulted in large scale migration as people moved to the cities to work (Sheffield is still a major UK city).
  3. Due to globalisation, many UK cities were affected by deindustrialisation, so these cities still were major population hubs, but not as well connected globally due to the loss of trade, and economic/social declines. (Sheffield saw major unemployment, poverty, and population decline due to this).

Question 18

Relationships, Connections, Meaning and Representation:

Relationships and Connections - Present and Past Connections:

Answer 18

• The character of a place is shaped by a mix of all the connections and developments they have undergone throughout history, and the present day connections and developments.
  Sheffield is now a mix of industrial and service based connections.
  1. It still has industrial characteristics (steel works are still there that sell to international markets), they have also tried to conserve some industrial areas and install art about it.
  2. New connections have been made that add to the character of Sheffield - like the universities (over 50,000 students).
  3. New high-tech industries have made new connections in Sheffield (McLaren carbon fibre factory there).
  4. It has re-branded as ‘the outdoor city’ to engage with tourism and sporting events.

Question 19

Meaning and Representation:

Different Presentations and Perceptions of Place:

Answer 19

• Places have meaning to the people that are familiar (sense of place).
• Different people, or groups of people, can attach different meanings to the same places (some people think a place is stressful, others exciting).
• These feelings are based on experience of that place (insiders or outsiders based on positive or negative experiences).
• The representation of a place can also affect perception:
  “Representation of a place is how individuals or organisations portray places they know to others”.
  EX: Individuals who are proud to live somewhere will present in a positive way to others, and tourism companies will give a distorted positive view (Paris on postcards). Newspapers show the negatives to sell more.
• These meanings and representations change how people behave to places (positive feelings make a person decide to go on holiday/invest there, but not negatives).
• Meaning and representations allow people to generate an identity based on the places they feel connected to.

Question 20

Meaning and Representation:

How Groups Influence Our Perceptions of Place:

Answer 20

• Some groups influence people’s sense of place or even create new meanings for places, so they can change people’s behaviour/opinions on them:
  1. Governments: both local and national will show positive meanings/ representation to attract people or investment.
  2. Corporate bodies (businesses, gov funded agencies, TNCs): do this to generate profit, or for a specific purpose (VisitBritain promotes tourism in the UK).
  3. Communities or local groups: can change perceptions to improve the local economy or the lives of local people (Glastonbury festival organised to promote the area as an exciting place, and generate wealth for locals).

Question 21

Meaning and Representation:

Strategies of how Groups influence Perceptions of Place:

Answer 21

1. Place marketing: they ‘sell’ the place to potential visitors or investors. Marketing companies are employed to make websites, logos, ads, social media posts, etc, to promote an area (EX: The Lake District marketed as a place for adventure and nature on websites and social media).
2. Re-imaging: changing people’s once negative perceptions of places. (EX: re-imaging Birmingham away from the unemployment and poverty, with investment and new town centres/gentrification.
3. Rebranding: giving a new identity and appealing to people and investors. This is done by re-imaging, place marketing, regeneration schemes. They normally make slogans and logos for places to make an instantly recognisable positive association with the place (EX: Glasgow’s is ‘People Make Glasgow’.

Question 22

Meaning and Representation:

Quantitative and Qualitative forms:

Answer 22

• Quantitative: can be quantified numerically, and have statistical analyses (maps, stats).
• Qualitative: can’t be quantified numerically and are more descriptive and creative (photos, art, poetry).

Question 23

Meaning and Representation:

Representations through Quantitative forms:

Answer 23

• Different forms can create contrasting representations of place (to get the best representation, look at many forms):

1. Statistics (Quantitative):
   - Stats, like Census data can give quantitative info about what the people are like (population, population structure, average income, crime figures, etc).
   - They can be in the form of raw data or visually represented through charts/graphs.
   - They are objective figures, but can be used subjectively. (EX: People can selectively choose data to present, to alter the representation).
   - They don’t tell us about the sense of place.

Question 24

Meaning and Representation:

Representations through Quantitative forms:

Answer 24

2. Maps:
   - They can be used to show any sort of data with a location (show where the physical features of a place are).
   - They also show quantitative demographic and economic data (diff levels of income by location).
   - Some maps have qualitative info, like maps of indexes that show happiness (these can somewhat show the sense of place).
   - Maps can show reliable data, but can be misleading (old maps are inaccurate).

Question 25

Meaning and Representation:

Representations through Qualitative forms:

Answer 25

3. Films, photography and art:
   - Visual representations show what places look like, and can give some sense of place. Although, they only represent what the artist wants to show (subjectivity can be misleading).
   - Photos only show what a place looks like in a given moment, diff times/seasons make the place look/feel different. Photos can also be altered to warp reality.
   - Films and TV evoke a sense of place that is dependent on the nature of the story told (e.g. crime dramas and romantic movies set in the same city). (TV has been used to break the stereotype of the rural idyll and show the truth).
   - Paintings and sculptures can be less reliable as other forms at showing what the place looks like as they are subjective to the artist. They are useful at conveying sense of place and character though.

Question 26

Meaning and Representation:

Representations through Qualitative forms:

Answer 26

4. Stories, articles, music and poetry:
   - Written representations can be used to describe places, and can also evoke a sense of how it feels to be in that place. They usually only offer perspectives of the author and allow our imagination to shape our views (very subjective).
   - Newspaper articles can give detail about places, but are likely biased (they focus on the negatives to sell more copies, rather than a balanced view).
   - Stories, music, poetry can give emotional impressions of the place, but only from the writer’s perspective (subjective).

Question 27

Place Studies:

Near place: Highgate

Answer 27

Location:

• South west corner of Haringey borough, bordering Camden, Barnet and Islington.
• The village, at the top of highgate hill, is designated as a conservation area.
• It was a Georgian village, leads south to Archway, west to Hampstead, East to Finsbury Park and North to Muswell Hill.

Typology:

• Highgate is an affluent residential area (hilltop with the school and gateshead pub). Just 4m below the highest point in London (Hampstead).
• Dominant bedrock is clay. The geology has allowed streams and ponds to break through from the Lea River.
• Elevated position - cleaner air, spring water, open space, even since the 14th century. The parks nearby prevented the destruction by railway lines, major roads, etc (Highgate wood, Queens-wood, Hampstead Heath).

Question 28

Place Studies:

Near place: Highgate

Answer 28

Neighbourhood:

• Varied townscape + character: tight section of terraces, historic patterns of development, topography, green space, and views.
• Community, education mixed with mansions and apartment blocks (high point), residential mainly, retail high street, villas and townhouses, limited industry (one locksmiths).
• Early village characterised by small-scale terraced houses and traditional shop fronts.
• Further diversity with large imposing of detached houses - beginning at Archway in 19th Century.
• Mix of earlier houses from 19th and later from 20th Century (architectural diversity).
• MAP EX: historic settlement patterns, consistently expanding around green spaces (shows more architectural diversity).

Question 29

Place Studies:

Near place: Highgate

Answer 29

Hamlet of Highgate:

• School founded in 1565 - New school buildings, fields, school chapel - attracting money and investment. Residents came too due to Highpoint.
• 19th Century - Highgate became a key stopping point for travellers on the way to the North out of London.

Rapid Expansion:

• 1900s, St. Michael’s School opened for poorer boys.
• Narrow Hornsey Lane Bridge (suicide bridge) was rebuilt by the London County Council in 1894: a larger-scale project that impacted Highgate by drawing away some traffic that would usually stop there.
• Opening of Highgate railway station in 1867 (forming new connections to the place).
• Recent: 1948 Hillcrest Estate built (modern social housing).

Question 30

Place Studies:

Near place: Highgate

Answer 30

Connections:
- Underground + road transport, Archway connects it to the city, village leads to Hampstead (by Hampstead Lane). Most roads lead north though.

Impact of connections on character:

• Whilst largely residential, the high street has high footfall, very congested, often leading to loss of ‘village character’ (Tesco).
• More traditional feel is preserved by junction to North Road (school, gatehouse, chapel).

Question 31

Place Studies:

Near place: Highgate

Answer 31

Social and Cultural:

• Mainly residential and commercial buildings - village centre has lots of independent stores and cafés.
• Street litter and poor maintenance in Archway (poorer area).
• Community and educational buildings, highgate library, Channing + Highgate school.
• Open spaces important to setting (Pond Square).

Also:
- The Location, topography, land use, physical geography, infrastructure, demographics and economics, all contribute to the character of hg.

Community:
- Social and cultural groups. EX: Highgate Society (big role in preserving the character) EX: They oppose the Murphy Development near the heath (eyesore).
(although they are mainly powerless, as Haringey council have final say - e.g. the flower shop closing).

Visual:
- Terraces + blocks, gardens + green spaces. These CONTRAST with the poorer, run-down Archway and neglected shop fronts.

Question 32

Place Studies:

Near place: Highgate

Answer 32

Demographic characteristics: 2001-2011:

• Highgate ward population - increased by 1,500 people.
• Higher proportion of 30-34 year olds than Haringey average, but lower prop of 20-24s than average.
• 9% of all households are 1-person at least over 65 (3rd highest out of Haringey wards).
• Lower proportion of unemployment than average in borough
• Higher proportion of atheists.
• 88.7% of people are in good/v good health (increase since 2001).
• 65.7% of residents are level 4 or above qualified, much higher than the average (40%).
• 59.8% white British (43.4% London average).

Changing cultures:

• Especially due to the school’s global influences (50% of London private school students are immigrants from some point).
• Cash injections from abroad from private schools to private clinics.
• Increase in chain stores in the village (e.g., Gails, Costa).
• Witanhurst House - bought by a Russian oligarch - 2nd largest private home in London (protested by residents over noise and risk to landscape).

Question 33

Place Studies:

Near place: Highgate

Answer 33

Representations of Highgate:
- Advertising (place marketing/branding): “live the Highgate life” slogan is a glamorisation, ease of transport links, private housing and parking, LOCATION for property investment.
- Text: Highgate cemetery reviews, trip-advisor = mainly positive. Timeout guide rated it highly for the cemetery (Marx), good accessibility and “wealthy facilities”, pretty shops, pubs, historic Georgian buildings, Charles Dickens’ house.
- Art: Artist prints of highgate, showing then vs now (change in pond square), paintings on the Heath. Sculpture honouring Windrush nurses at Whittington hospital.
- Maps: hand drawn maps showing individual perceptions of highgate, and growing housing over years.
Film: Used (Hampstead + school) in films (EX: The city of London film or Catherine Tate comedy).

Question 34

Place Studies:

Near place: Highgate

Answer 34

Lived experiences:

• Photos: showing how highgate shop fronts have changed over time (more commercialised).
• Demographics: increasing overall population and increasing diversity - change in lived experience (esp for elderly residents).
• Interview: experience as a boy - running down the streets, remembers one local butcher, one local greengrocer. It has expanded much more (larger local economy, charity shops with global connections, cafes, etc). This is shown by artworks and photos too.
• Now: Trip-Advisor brings more temporary visitors.

Different Perspectives:

• Place meaning may depend on past and present experiences, and what they came for (cemetery).
• I have lived near, so am an insider, but if I came as a non-local, how would I feel? Changing experiences, social interactions, familiarity, shops and services, language barriers?

Question 35

Place Studies:

Near place: Highgate

Answer 35

External influences:

• Sense of place of Highgate (subjective)
• Conflict (Russian house)
• Investment (schools, higher prices, chain stores).
• Tourists + high footfall affecting village “character”.

Changes over time:

• Continuity vs changes, lived experience past v present, changing characteristics, economic change and immigration.
  1. Community gaps - Hg represented as rich, increased footfall and more accessibility creates more disparity between Hg and Archway.
  2. Increasing diversity (although limited) has brought new cultures and global influences and connections.

Question 36

Place Studies:

Far place: Whitechapel:

Answer 36

Location:

• Brick Lane and Spitalfields, linked to Whitechapel high street in the south. In the borough of Tower Hamlets.
• Today its in the heart of London’s Bangladeshi community and called Banglatown.

Typology and history:

• Brick Lane originally called Whitechapel Lane - changed as local industry was brick manufacturing.
• By 17th Century, was known for Breweries (Truman).
• 17th Century Huguenots (driven out of France for being protestant), the area became known for textiles and weaving.
• 19th and 20th Century Irish and Jewish immigrants (tailors and textiles mainly).
• Now, Bangladeshi (from Sylhet region) - there is a Bangladeshi newspaper.