The nature and importance of places
Concept of place
● A physical location that can be plotted on a map (with longitude and latitude
coordinates)
● Physical characteristics of the landscape - e.g. geology, topography and physical
features
● Human characteristics - e.g. who lives there (demographics) and the human features
of the landscape - e.g. land use and built environment
● Flows into and out of the place
● Has representations through various formal and informal sources
● Sense of place - emotional attachment people have to the place (different individuals
or groups have different senses of the same place)
Dynamic aspects:
● Physical characteristics change over long, e.g. river migration, or short time scale,
e.g. impacts of volcanic eruptions on landscape
● Human characteristics change over larger, e.g. new people are born and others die,
or shorter time scales, e.g. people migrate in and out of a place
● Representations change as people’s perceptions change of the place - e.g. after the
Llandudno rebranding, representations changed to be more positive to promote the
place as “Alice Town” and attract tourism
● Flows change - e.g. increased flows of capital, labour, products and services into and
out of a country when a TNC invests in new operations there
Many people create their identity based on places they feel connected to - share
characteristics they feel bind them together as a group (shared identity) at a variety of
scales:
● Local - e.g. individuals share a positive sense of small town
● Regional - e.g. individuals from a city sharing an accent
● National - e.g. individuals of country sharing a language, religion or love for it
Insider and outsider perspectives
An insider is someone who tends to be from the place, is familiar with it and feels like they
belong there and are welcome.
● Understand the social norms and customs
● Speak the local language
● E.g. a resident of a country.
An outsider is someone who may or may not be from the particular place, aren’t very familiar
with it, and feels excluded, unwelcome and even alienated.
● May not understand the social norms
● May be language barriers between them and those around them
● E.g. international immigrants that don’t share the same cultural values as the
residents of the place they moved to.
Categories of place
, Near places are places that are geographically near to where a person lives and people are
more likely to feel like insiders as they have experienced the place, developed a sense of
place so they feel comfortable and formed perceptions of it.
● Not always the case - people can feel like outsiders due to voluntary or involuntary
exclusion for various reasons (e.g. human factors like age, gender or sexuality, and
even physical barriers, such as anti-homeless architecture)
Far places are places that are geographically distant from where a person lives and people
are more likely to feel like outsiders due to lack of experience, no sense of place and weak
perceptions.
● Not always the case due to globalisation:
○ People can feel like insiders due to increased experience - e.g. quicker and
easier transport allows for frequent experience, and people easily familiarise
themselves with other places and communicate with residents without even
visiting them over the Internet
○ Increased placelessness due to global companies and products = far places
similar to near places.
Experienced places are places that people have spent time in and therefore experienced,
which shapes their sense of place.
Media places are places that people haven’t been to but have formed a sense of place
through the media.
● Person’s sense of place of a media place can be very different to the lived
experience of it as media can present a place in a biassed way
Factors affecting character of place
The character of a place is the specific features and qualities of an area that make it unique
to others.
Endogenous factors are the internal factors which shape a place’s character.
● Location: where it is located - e.g. rural/urban, inland/coastal, etc
○ Directly characterises it - e.g. places can be known as coastal towns, the
suburbs or large city centres
○ Affects other factors - e.g. coastal areas are more likely to be involved in the
shipping industry
● Topography: shape of the landscape
○ Directly characterises it - e.g. mountainous region = steep slopes, while wide
valleys = flat land
○ Affects other factors - e.g. mountainous region more suitable for pastoral
farming, while valleys are more suitable for arable farming
● Physical geography: environmental features of a place, such as elevation, soil and
rock type, water features, etc
○ Directly characterises it - e.g. different geology, such as igneous or
sedimentary, forms different landscapes
○ Affects other factors - e.g. places rich in natural resources develop certain
industries, like mining
