Theoretical Approaches To Place Flashcards
What are the three theoretical approaches to place?
Descriptive, social constructionist and phenomenological
What is a descriptive approach?
The idea that the world is a set of places and each place can be studied and is distinct.
What is a social constructionist approach?
An approach that sees place as a product of a particular set of social processes occurring at a particular time.
What is a phenomenological approach?
An approach that is not interested in the unique characteristics of a place or why it was constructed. Instead it is interested in how an individual person experiences place.
What does a phenomenological approach recognise?
A highly personal relationship between place and person.
What two geographers are important when looking at phenomenological approaches?
Yi-Fu Tuan and Edward Relph
What is Tuan important?
He developed the term ‘topophilia’ and the argument that it is through human perception and experience that we get to know places.
What is ‘topophilia’ used to describe?
The affective bond between people and place.
What does Relph argue?
That the degree of attachment, involvement and concern that a place a person or group has for a particular place is critical in the understanding of place.
Why is it important to consider all three approaches?
Places are not simply geographical locations but should be understood as dynamic areas where people, ideas and information come together.
