Topic 4 - EQ 1 Flashcards
What is a Place?
A geographical space which are created by individuals or communities overtime. Different places will have different characteristics.
How can definitions of a place vary?
Some places (eg cities) may have very fixed boundaries, where as others (such as a rural village) may have less strict boundaries which are up to interpretation. These vary in characteristics along a rural-urban continuum.
What three scales can a place change on?
Local
National
Global
What are the 5 different economics sectors?
Primary - extraction of raw materials
Secondary - manufacturing + processing
Tertiary - sectors
Quaternary - technology based jobs
Quinary - management/consultant
Why are primary sector jobs decreasing?
Mechanisation has caused much less jobs to be needed in the primary sector, as well as competition from companies abroad allowing us to import the materials at a lower cost. Jobs in higher sectors also provide a better quality of life, which many people are drawn towards.
What are the different types of employment?
Informal vs formal
Self employment
Full vs part time
Temporary vs Permanent employment
What is the Clark-Fisher model?
A model which shows how over time (pre-industrial, industrial, post-industrial) the percentage of people in each employment sector changes). Primary falls dramatically, secondary rises to its peak in the industrial era before falling again. Tertiary rises steadily from the pre-industrial era, overtaking the secondary sector in the industrial era. Both quaternary and quinary sectors rise in the post industrial era.
What are places shaped by?
-Internal connections (between people, employment, services and housing).
-External connections (government policies and globalisation).
It is these linkages that drive much of the change that characterises a place.
How do places vary in their dynamism?
This is the rate at which they change. Smaller and more remote places may change socially and economically more slowly than larger cities, while villages close to cities will be affected by commuting.
What is the rural-urban continuum?
The unbroken transition from sparsely populated or unpopulated, remote rural places to densely populated, intensively used urban places.
What is regeneration designed for?
It is often designed to tackle inequalities in either urban or rural places, and make places economically productive and/or socially acceptable. Policies and programmes may have different impacts on peoples loved experience of change and their perception and attachment to places.
What have places become less ‘parochial’ (having a limited outlook based on social class)?
Social class is being replaced by levels of education and skills. Personal ‘mobility’ is now more depended on access and opportunities for trainings than place of birth. This means accessing higher levels of education at university and apprenticeships allows people from traditionally working class families to access higher paid and skilled jobs. Uni grads also now often settle in the place they were trained, rather than close to their family home.
How do places become ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ in a competitive, interlinked world?
Manchester, London and the M4 corridor have won from being interlinked. Other places see relative losers, who are marginalised and even deprived in opportunity, faculties and standard of living, such as Cornwall.
What are the controversial aspects of work?
-gender pay gap, men are paid on average 10% more than women
- Zero-hour contracts, no obligations by the employer or employee. Now, it does have to be paid the hourly minimum wage, and is increasingly popular in work such as at Wetherspoons, McDonalds, and some councils.
- There was a crackdown on the black market, relies on illegal migrant workers, often on very low pay with poor conditions. Illegal work was made a criminal offence in 2015.
- Temporary and season work usually has low pay, for example tourism and agriculture.
What do social inequalities result from?
They result from concentrations. A large, high-LQ industry with a declining LQ over time maybe detrimental to a local and national economy, for example the steel industry.
How do certain places specialise?
Places specialising in high-tech industries, insurance and finance will generate ‘new’ money from their ‘exports’ and a positive spin off or multiplier effect on other services. Certain economic sectors have distinctive patterns, like a North-South split may be identified in the location of manufacturing and financial services.
These concentrations may cause congestion, overcrowding and increased house + land prices, as seen in the ‘overheated’ SE England.
What is a Location Quotient?
A mapable ratio which helps show specialisation in any data distribution being studied. A figure close or equal to 1.00 suggest local and national patterns are similar with no particular specialisation. E.g retail.
What is an example of original economics ‘winners’ becoming ‘losers’?
The steel industry. It supports many other manufacturers in the wider supply chain, like construction and aerospace. However in 2015, Thai-owned SSI closed with 2000 redundancies and India’s TNC Tata shut with 4500 redundancies. This was to cut costs due to green taxes, the strong pound, cheaper Chinese imports etc. an estimates 4 jobs will be lost for each steel worker redundancy as whole communities are effected. This is the negative multiplier effect.
Is there a link to health and employment?
Yes, those working ‘blue collar’ or manual jobs today are exposed to harmful chemicals and pollutants, rising risk of poor health and mortality.
Variations in income can also effect peoples quality of food and housing. Black and minority groups generally have worse health than the overall population, due to poorer socio-economic positioning.
Geographical factors such as location can also affect health. Places such as the inner city can become ‘food deserts’ in terms of availability, with cheaper processed and take away food dominating personal choice. Health can suffer as a result of this. E.g obesity.
How can employment affect life expectancy?
Longevity can vary dramatically between but also within settlements, especially larger cities. The 2011 census data showed North-South variations in life expectancy. In harrow (NW London) 65 year old males can expect to live 6 years more than those in Glasgow. Kensington and Chelsea (with the highest rate of earnings at £60,000) has the rates of men living to 80 and women 85. This is much higher than than the NE and NW with life expectancy of 75 years for men and 80 for women.
Furthermore, in Camden (where 34% of children live in poverty) 43% of deaths were considered to be premature, especially in deprived communities. However, life expectancy in Camden is increasing, and since 2010 is above the national average.
How is education linked to employment?
Education provision and outcome is unequal in the UK. Outcome, measured by examination p success, is strongly linked to income levels. Using data on free school meals (which is linked to low income), working class white children in poverty have lower educational achievement and are more likely to continue to underachieve. By sixteen, only 31% had achieved 5 or more GCSEs between A and C including maths and English in 2013.
Only 14% of variation in performance is due to individuals quality of school attended. Disadvantaged children may feel a lack of control over their learning, and may be reluctant to carry on to higher education.
What is the index of multiple deprivation?
- Used by governments and local authorities to target regeneration aid, allocate resources and target hotspots of crime.
- Places are ranked by their relative level of deprivation
- Not everyone is ‘deprived’ in a highly deprived area and some
deprived live in the least deprived areas. - Data may be quantitative or qualitative
- Change is measured within places using 4 foci:
land-use changes, employment trends, demographic changes, levels of deprivation
Does social deprivation always mean businesses struggle?
No. In Sparkbrook (Birmingham), the British Pakistani community is highly entrepreneurial, despite ranking high on the Index of Multiple Deprivation. Empty factories have become fashion stores, and other small factories such as restaurants have been established. These self-employed ventures were set up during the recession, as the UK economy grows again they’re likely to remain as sustainable, permanent employers.
Is there inequalities in pay level across the UK?
There are stark differences in rates of pay across the UK. The highest median earnings in 2011 were found in SW London. However, older industrial cities (still struggling with deindustrialisation) tend to have a lower average pay. NW Wales has the lowest pay.
Interactive maps show that the inequality of pay also correlates with both distribution of jobs in different economic sectors and quality of life around the UK.
Where is the best and worst health in the UK?
Best health is in Richmond upon Thames.
Worst health is in post industrial South Wales, NW England and Western Scotland. These communities have suffered the most from changed bought by globalisation.
What is the postcode lottery?
Thus refers to the uneven distribution of local personal health and health services nationally, especially in mental health, early diagnosis of cancer and emergency care for the elderly.
Is there a correlation between inequality/deprivation and quality of life?
Normally (but not always), poverty, inequality and quality of life rise and fall together. However, we can still see inequality in areas without high levels of poverty due to a large difference between the top and middle of the income spectrum. Some places this is evident is London, and Rock in Cornwall (where the likes of Gordon Ramsey own second homes).
What is the definition of quality of life?
The level of social and economic well-being experienced by individuals or communities measured by various indicators including health, happiness, educational achievement, income and leisure time.
What is the difference between ‘quality of life’ and ‘standard of living’?
Quality of life is a much wider concept than standard of living, which is centred on just income.
What is regeneration?
This is the long-term upgrading of existing places or more drastic renewal schemes for urban residential, retail, industrial and commercial areas, as well as rural areas. This sometimes includes conservation to preserve a specific identity. It is connected with rebranding, which centres on place marketing, where places are given a new or enhanced identity to increase their attractiveness and socio-economic viability.
