changing places key terms:

Place

Place

Defined as a location with meaning. Places can be meaningful to individuals that are personal and subjective. There are 3 aspects: Location, Locale and Sense of Place.

Location

Where is place is e.g. the co-ordinates on a map.

Locale

The effect people have on their setting. A place is shaped by the people, cultures and customs within it.

Sense of Place

This refers to the subjective and emotional attachment people have to a place. This may be completely different when looked at from another's perspective.

Perception of Place

This is the way in which place is viewed or regarded by people. This can be influenced by media representation or personal experience.

Placemaking

The deliberate shaping of an environment to facilitate social interaction and improve a community's quality of life.

Theoretical approaches to place: A descriptive approach

The idea that the world is a set of places and each place can be studied and is distinct.

Theoretical approaches to place: A social constructionist approach

Sees places as a product of a particular set of social processes occurring at a particular time. For example, Trafalgar Square was built to commemorate a British naval victory in the 1800s and, using a social constructionist approach, could be understood as a place of empire and colonialism.

Theoretical approaches to place: A phenomenological approach

This approach 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, recognising a highly personal relationship between place and person.

Place identity

Identity can be evident at a number of scales. Historically, people have identified more with their local place or community because they have greater knowledge of this area. In some areas of the UK, this has led to calls for more regional government e.g. In Cornwall, the Mebyon Kernow party has been leading the campaign for the creation of a National Assembly for Cornwall. Many people identify with a place at a national level and this is strengthened through a common language, flag, national anthem and through cultural and sporting events. Religion and politics can also influence identity.

Localism (identity)

An affection for or emotional ownership of a particular place.

Nimbyism Not in my backyard.

This is linked with localism and often occurs when people are reluctant to have their local area affected by development.

Regionalism

Consciousness of, and loyalty to, a distinct region with a population that shares similarities.

Nationalism

Loyalty and devotion to a nation, which creates a sense of national consciousness. Patriotism could be considered as an example of sense of place.

A global sense of place

Recognising global connections as well as diversity within a place. Doreen Massey questioned the idea that places are static and argued that places are dynamic. She argued that the character of a place can only be understood by linking place to places beyond.

Homgenised places

Globalisation has eroded local cultures and produced identical places e.g. through the increased presence of global foodchains such as Starbucks.

Globalisation

The increasing integration of economies and societies.

Clone Town

Settlements where the high street is dominated by chain stores.

Placelessness

The loss of uniqueness of place in the cultural landscape so that one place looks like the next.

Glocalisation

When multinational companies adapt to the local market. E.G. In Hindu countries McDonald's has removed beef from its menu.

Belonging (in the context of place)

To be part of a community (belonging is increasingly seen as one of the key factors that makes a place sustainable).

Insider perspective of place

People have a stronger relationship with the places they are familiar with. 'To be inside a place is to belong to it and identify with it, and the more profoundly inside you are the stronger is the identity with place' (Relph 1976).

Outsider perspective of place

An outsider within a place may be someone who has lived in that given place all of their lives, but they feel socially excluded from that place (for example, an immigrant who has struggled to integrate with the local culture)

Positionality

A person's uniquely situated social position, which reflects his or her gender, nationality, political views, previous experiences, and so on.

Near and Far Places

They could refer to the geographical distance between places or the emotional connection with a place (how comfortable a person feels within that place). Near places do not automatically mean familiar and belonging and far-off places (with globalisation) aren't automatically strange and different.

Experienced places

Those places that a person has spent time in.

Media places

Places that the person has only read about or seen in a film.

The character of a place

Refers to the physical and human features that help to distinguish it from another place.

Endogenous factors (in the context of place)

This refers to the characteristics of the place itself or factors which have originated internally. This would include aspects such as location, physical geography, land use and social and economic characteristics such as employment rates.

Exogenous factors (in the context of place)

This refers to the relationship of one place with other places and the external factors which affect this. The demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics of a place are shaped by shifting flows of people, resources and investment.

Infrastructure

Relates to the services considered essential to enable or enhance living conditions. These primarily consist of transport communications, communications infrastructure and services such as water supply.

Agents of change

These are the people who impact on place whether through living, working or trying to improve that place. Examples would include residents, community groups, corporate entities, central and local government and the media.

Place-memory

Refers to the ability of place to make the past come to life in the present. This can occur through material artefacts such as old photographs.

Place meaning

Meaning relates to individual or collective perceptions of place.

Media

Means of communication including television, film, photography, art, newspapers, books, songs etc. These reach or influence people widely.

Objective

Not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing facts.

Qualitative data

Information that is non-numerical and used in a relatively unstructured and open-ended way. It is descriptive information, which often comes from interviews, focus groups or artistic depictions such as photographs. Some types of qualitative data, such as interviews, can be coded (add categories) and may then be subject to quantitative analysis.

Quantitative data

Data that can be quantified and verified, and is amenable to statistical manipulation.

Representation of place

How a place is portrayed or 'seen' in society.

Subjective

Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes or opinions.

Re-imaging

This disassociates a place from bad pre-existing images in relation to poor housing, social deprivation, high levels of crime, environmental pollution and industrial derelication. It can then attract new investment, retailing, tourists and residents.

Rebranding

The way or ways in which a place is redeveloped and marketed so that it gains a new identity. It can then attract new investment, retailing, tourists and residents. It may involve both re-imaging and regeneration.

Regeneration

Regeneration is a long-term process involving redevelopment and the use of social, economic and environmental action to reverse urban decline and create sustainable communities.

Place marketing

Marketing or public relations companies may be employed by national and local government to improve or create positive perceptions of place e.g. through advertising campaigns.

Enthnography

A research method that explores what people do as well as what they say (an ethnographer would participate in the daily life of a person or group and watch what happens).