Lecture: Everyday Geographies

Question 1

How do we see the geography of places in the public space?

Answer 1

• pace: quick and slow
• materialities: machines and bodies
• activities: work, production, consumption, recreation
• time: day or night
• rhythm: differs depending on the time and what the public space is used for

Question 2

Why is time-space geography from the Lund Geographers important?

Answer 2

It’s where everyday life was first seen as something worth studying. It’s about:

• common
• regular
• routine
• ordinary

Question 3

How can you understand the big issues of everyday geographies?

Answer 3

• you need to understand the local impact of national and global forces (Guardian: I walked from London to Liverpool)
• you need to understand how big issues matter and mean for individual people and how they live through these experiences
• communities and individuals are different. Some people can make use of the changes, but others don’t have the resources or skills (Massey: Power geometry). Are people able to negotiate the changes that are going on or are they happening to them?

Question 4

What are the paradoxes of using communities as a resource?

Answer 4

1. To what degree is the community a resource and to what degree is it a cause of the problem. Where community (intervention) is needed the most, the community ties are weak (linked to ubiquitous community of Barrett)
2. When there’s a bottom-up success it will trigger top-down involvement. Politicians want to be part of the success.