1.3.1 - changing place, changing places -
relationships and connections The demographic, socio-economic and
cultural characteristics of places as
exemplified by the ‘home’ place and at least
one further contrasting place
Place - a portion of geographic space by which
meaning has been given by people. A place may have
a uniqueness and distinctiveness as a result of the way
it has developed and changed. It is shaped by the
relationships to other places and spaces at a range of
scales.
The geographical concept of a place has 3 aspects.
Location - where a place is on the map, latitude and
longitude
Locale - a place where everyday life activities take
place. They dictate our social interactions and help
forge attitudes, values and behaviours.
Sense of place - the subjective (personal) and
emotional attachment to the place.
Scale - small-scale (hamlets, small villages and
neighbourhoods), large-scale (villages and urban
neighbourhoods, rural regions like Powys and Ryedale
and large towns and cities), rural regions belonging to
large-scale counties (Yorkshire) or countries (Wales).
Edgeland - a place with a mixture of urban and rural
characteristics, forming part of either a rural-urban
continuum or rural-urban fringe.
Factors affecting the character of a place:
Demographic - some places have a greying population,
where there is selective in-migration of over 60s and
out-migration of the younger population, generating a
top-heavy population pyramid. Women typically live
longer than men so these populations have a high
proportion of females. This is most common in English
seaside towns and in Wales.
For example, when looking at Chichester harbour,
there are 92 males for every 100 females and the
average age is 45 years old, compared to Manchester
which is 33.
Socio-economic - the economic character of a place
derives from its functions. Originally, this was linked
with site factors, where industries thrived off coastal
and riverside towns and cities such as Chichester
Harbour, but now functions have changed and many
UK cities are now post-industrial, like Manchester.
Despite this, coastal towns have still withheld their
affluence with owning a house being the most common
property ownership, whilst Manchester’s is private rent
and Chichester having significantly better universal
credit.
- Geographical variations of economic health and
character of a place correlate with social
, patterns of health, life expectancy and
education, where Chichester and Manchester
are both rated at having very good health.
Cultural - this is a contribution of sports, music, art,
food and local dialects that all distinguish a place.
Ethnic minority groups also contribute to this from a
past or continuing migration stream. Manchester is
more diverse with less than 50% identifying as white
British with Asian people making up 17.1% whereas
Chichester is 95% white. Additionally, whilst
Christianity is the leading religion in both, the
remaining proportion in Manchester is made of
Muslims and Hindus whereas the remainder in
Chichester have no religion.
Factors (shifting flows of and connections
between people, resources, money, investment
and ideas) that have shaped and continue to
shape the characteristics of a place at all sales
from local to global, including MNC fast food
chains
Factors that shape the characteristic of a place:
Time - where the place fits in along a timeline
Identity - features that make a place unique
Representation - communicating something specific
about a place
Threshold - population required to sustain services
Endogenous factors - internal factors that shape a
place
Exogenous factors - external factors that shape a place
Relationships people have with places:
Flows of money and investment - Foreign Direct
Investment can improve areas significantly, such as the
Etihad Stadium in Manchester. This shapes the place
positively as it creates employment opportunities and
attracts young people to move to their area, altering
the identity of a place by having a younger
demographic. However, this may not always be
positive as investment by large MNCs lead to ‘clone
town’ critique, where many towns are similar and lose
their individual character, which will drive out locals.
Flows of people - migrants moving into or out of an
area. For example, people migrated from India to the
UK and now consist of 900,000 people in the UK with
the biggest diaspora communities being in London,
Leicester and Birmingham. With refugees, it is most
common to come from the Middle East with 42% of
applicants for British residency. Of people that migrate,
economic migrants bring the most advantages socially
through bringing their knowledge and contributing to
the UK workforce, however refugees create the most
, controversy through economic disadvantages when it
comes to housing, resources and services that are
already in stress due to the current cost of living crisis.
Flows of resources - the reliance on raw materials.
This is positive in shaping a place as it has led to
exogenous factors in the creation of trading blocs and
countries can come together to share resources.
However, since leaving the EU, the UK has been
negatively affected by a 16% reduction in trade.
Flows of ideas - urban planners are responsible for the
character of a place and their ideas often come from
universities but come from abroad too. This can be
economically positive and it builds up the wealth of the
area and attracts more people, however it can be
negative culturally as the people living there originally
will be pushed out of the area and make it lose its
original identity.
Gentrification - the revival of an urban area that has
been subject to environmental and socio-economic
decline. Ity is rarely a direct planning strategy and
generally a result of newfound desirability in the area.
The way in which continuity and change of
these local to global factors affect learner’s
own lives and the lives of others
Worldwide independence - occurs due to the nature of
the modern global economy, trade patterns and
communications
Globalisation - the process by which the world is
becoming increasingly interconnected as a result of
massively increased trade and cultural exchange.
Scunthorpe as a clone town: NEF said ‘it’s losing its
character and national chains are springing up like
weeds, leaving us with identicate town centres’ and we
are witnessing a ‘chainstore massacre.’ Some
residents see this as positive as brands are looking at
Scunthorpe and it will put them on the map and put
them higher in the scale. Others don’t see this in such
a positive light as 50 local shops close per week with
little support from the national government.
Slavery shaping cities: Liverpool was the slave trading
capital of Britain in 1740 and benefited economically
from the triangular trade between Europe, Africa and
the Caribbean. 12 million Africans were deprived of
status, kidnapped and sold and if not, forced to work in
plantations. Liverpool’s involvement can be seen from
street names after people that benefited from the
system such as Sir Thomas who was responsible for
the wealth of Liverpool but also growing its slavery.
