INSTRUCTOR MANUAL
Heather Nicol
for
Human Geography
Fifth Canadian Edition
Paul L. Knox
Sallie A. Marston
Michael Imort
,Chapter 1: Geography Matters
Overview
As a field of inquiry, human geography is particularly concerned with the interdependency of
living things and their physical environments. This is important in a world that is becoming more
complex and interdependent than ever before. The purpose of this chapter is to introduce us to
fundamental concepts, frameworks, methods and perspectives used by human geographers to
make sense of the world around them. In defining human geography as the systematic study of
peoples and human activities across the Earth’s surface, it encourages us to recognize and
analyze the inherently interdependent patterns these activities represent.
Having read this chapter, students should better appreciate how and why geographical
relationships matter. They will learn how maps, as well as other analytical tools used by
geographers like GIS, can be used to make sense of the spatial organization of human activity.
They will also be made aware of the many types of interactions between humans and their
environments. In developing a basic understanding of human geography, students will find
themselves better equipped to make sense of the impact of our relationships to each other and to
the world around us.
Chapter Outline
Learning Outcomes 2
Why Geography Matters 4
Why Places Matter 4
The Influence of Places 5
The Meaning of Places 6
Studying Human Geography 8
The Basic Tools and Methods of Human Geographers 8
Geography Matters 1.1: Geographers at Work 9
Maps 11
Geographic Information Systems 15
Spatial Analysis 17
Location 17
Visualizing Geography 1.2: Geodemographic Research 18
Distance 21
Space 21
Accessibility 22
Spatial Interaction 22
Regional Analysis 24
Regionalization 25
Landscape 26
Sense of Place 28
Developing a Geographical Imagination 29
Window on the World 1.3: South Beach Miami Beach 30
Future Geographies 32
Conclusion 33
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,Human Geography, 5CE Chapter 1: Geography Matters
Learning Outcomes
■ Explain how the study of geography has become essential for understanding a world that is
more complex, interdependent, and changing faster than ever before.
■ Identify four examples of how places influence inhabitants’ lives.
■ Distinguish the differences among major map projections and describe their relative
strengths and weaknesses.
■ Explain how geographers use geographic information systems (GIS) to merge and analyze
data.
■ Summarize the five concepts that are key to spatial analysis and describe how they help
geographers to analyze relationships between peoples and places.
■ Describe the importance of distance in shaping human activity.
■ Summarize the three concepts that are key to regional analysis and explain how they help
geographers analyze relationships between peoples and places.
Discussion Topics and Lecture Themes
1. The so-called Arab spring of 2011 brought the growing impact of global economies and
policies home to bear in the Arab world. Ask student to think about how some of the
specific everyday activities which they participated in, from online to consumer activities,
might have contributed to this volatile global situation, in both positive and negative ways.
2. Have the students explore the website of the Canadian Association of Geographers
(www.cag-acg.ca) and review the contents of several recent issues of The Canadian
Geographer. Then ask them to consider the range of research themes and topics that have
been examined by Canadian geographers. What are some of these themes and topics? On
what places or geographical regions have their studies focused? What are some methods of
analysis that Canadian geographers have employed in conducting their research?
(The range of research themes and topics examined by Canadian geographers is incredibly
broad, as are the specific settings in which research has been conducted. Conducting such a
search will provide the students with an understanding of how Canadian geography
continues to be a vibrant and an absorbing discipline in which a variety of qualitative and
quantitative research methods are used. It will also demonstrate that the research of
Canadian geographers is conducted at a variety of scales, from the local to the regional to
the national).
3. In order the encourage students to think about the concept of “place” and intersubjectivity,
have them describe a location towards which they feel a special attachment. This may be a
landscape or a building, a room or a public place where they feel a sense of belonging.
Have them consider why that place is significant to them, and how that same place might
be threatening to someone else.
(Point out that geographers study the meaning and not just the location of places. Meaning
comes from a common understanding of the significance of a place, and this significance
can be both at the individual or collective level).
4. Have students think about the foods and drinks they consumed over a three day period, and
the geographical origins of these foods. Have students suggest how their dietary habits are
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, Human Geography, 5CE Chapter 1: Geography Matters
related to other global issues like agricultural patterns of production, our use of global
environments and resources, and to global cultural and ethnic patterns of food
consumption, conflict, and land ownership.
(How do the local community and the source regions of these products depend on each
other? What impact do our dietary patterns have in an interdependent world?)
5. Show the students the PowerPoint images (Figures 1.14 to 1.16) depicting various map
projections. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each projection? Why are all of them
still in use today?
6. Places can be identified according to their absolute or relative location, their site and
situation. Have students think about what this means by asking them to describe where they
live in both absolute and relative terms, and in terms of their residential site and situation.
When is it useful to use relative location to locate their residence? When would absolute
location be a better means of positioning their residence?
(Absolute location refers to longitude and latitude, or a marked and measured location like
an address. Relative location or situation refer to the position of a place relative to another.
In addition to these means of locating a place, it is important to think about their site and
situation. The site refers to the physical attributes of a place, such as its terrain, soil, and
vegetation. The situation refers to the location of the place relative to other places – for
example, in the case of a university campus, to other parts of the community or to given
streets or parks. Students should be encouraged to think about these key concepts)
7. Discuss a current events issue like the outbreak of disease or an environmental disaster.
Ask students to think about how specific types of spatial processes, like complementarity,
transferability, intervening opportunities, and diffusion relate to the issue you have chosen.
For example, the Ebola and Aids epidemics were very different in their spatial origins and
distribution. Think about why this is so.
8. Ask students to think about what we mean by regionalization by having them think about
regionalism in Canada. How many regions can they identify? Ask students to explain and
justify why they identified the regions they did and what they think are the important
characteristics of each region.
(Regions may exhibit some variability in certain attributes, share an overall coherence in
structure and economic, political, and social organization).
9. Landscapes are central to our understanding of the world around us. They provide visual
cues and also inform us about past activities. The analysis of landscape reveals patterns of
the past as well as present. In order to help students understand this, show students
advertisements selected from a variety of different magazines and have them decipher how
the landscape displayed within the advertisement is central to the marketers’ message.
What are the key elements in the composition of the landscape it displays, and what do
each of these symbolize?
10. Have students describe the neighbourhood in which they live, identifying the imprint of
different periods of development. Which features of the region can be said to be the result
of general spatial effects, and which are unique?
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