Nature and Importance of Place

Question 1

How do geographers define place

Answer 1

• Location
• Locale
• Sense of Place

Question 2

What is Location?

Answer 2

Where a place is. Exact coordinates/mapping.

Question 3

What is Locale?

Answer 3

Takes into account the effect that people have on their setting and may have particular events or customs associated with it

Question 4

What is Sense of Place?

Answer 4

Subjective and emotional attachments people have to a place and we all have different perspectives.

Question 5

What is the descriptive approach?

Answer 5

Links to Location
The world is a set of places and each can be studied as distinct

Question 6

What is the social constructionist approach?

Answer 6

Links to Locale
A place is a particular set of social processes occurring at a particular time built to commemorate

Question 7

What is a phenomenological place?

Answer 7

Links to sense of place
Interested in how an individual experiences a place and understanding personal attachments

Question 8

What is topophilia?

Answer 8

Developed by Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph
The love of a place eg home

Question 9

What is topophobia?

Answer 9

The hate of a place eg hospitals

Question 10

What influences attachment to a place?

Answer 10

The quality or intensity of experience we have there and the depth of knowledge and understanding of it. This attachment increases with age.

Question 11

Identity and Place

Answer 11

Our sense of place, the meaning we give to a location can be so strong that it features as part of our identity. Changes in places can also cause changing identities

Question 12

What is the Insider Perspective?

Answer 12

To be inside a place is to belong to it and identify with it.

Question 13

What is the Outsider Perspective?

Answer 13

To be on the outside is to not belong to a place and to feel alienated from it and therefore finding it difficult to identify with that place.

Question 14

What is Social exclusion?

Answer 14

Exclusion from society and feeling “out of place” or not belonging to a certain society. This could result in poverty or belonging to a minority group.

Question 15

What is Spatial exclusion?

Answer 15

Certain areas being excluded from society such as gated communities that are strictly controlled so only residents can go in and out. This can cause a sense of dislocation - not feeling attached to a place.

Question 16

What are the four types of place?

Answer 16

Near
Far
Media
Experienced

Question 17

Near and Far Places

Answer 17

This could refer to the geographical location and distance of a place or the emotional connection and how comfortable you feel in that place

Question 18

Experienced and Media Places

Answer 18

Experienced Places are those places that a person has spent time in whereas media places are those that a person has only read about or seen on film. The reality of a place can differ from that put across by the media eg the countryside in the UK under a positive light and cities under a negative one.