Meaning and Representation of Place - Sense of Place

How do people perceive and present places differently?

• places have meaning to ppl that know them → this is their sense of places

• diff ppl/groups of ppl can attach diff meanings to the same places → eg diff ppl may think of the same place as beautiful/unnatractive, exciting/boring, stressful/peaceful

• how ppl feel ab a place often dependent of their experience of that place → eg ppl may feel like insiders/outsiders in a place dep on their experience on place + / -

What is the representation of place?

How ppl feel ab places can also be aff by how places have been represented to them

• representation: how individ/organisations such as businesses/councils portray places they know ab to others

how can people or organisations represent places in different ways depending on what their perspective is?

• individ who r proud to come from a place may present it to others in a + way, whilst individ who had bad experience of a place may present it - to others

• organis such as tourist comp/local councils may present places positively as they gain from how places are perceived

• newspapers may choose to focus on neg aspects of a place in circumst where it may help them sell more copies

How are meaning and representations of places important?

• can change how ppl beh tow those places → eg pos feeling ab place may make a pers go on holiday/invest in a business there, whilst neg feeling may make them avoid that place

• Meanings + representations of that place also imp as many ppl generate their identity (their sense of who they are) based on places they feel connected to

Which groups influence our perceptions of place?

• governments → both nationally + locally, to attr ppl/investm to partic places

• corporate bodies → generate profit/bc they have been set up for specific purp → eg VisitBritain agency set to promote UK

• community/local groups → improve local economy/lives of locals → eg local ppl + business owners in Ludlow promote town thru organising food festiv every yr

What are the main 3 strategies to alter perceptions of a place?

1. Place marketing

2. Reimaging

3. Rebranding

How does place marketing alter perceptions of a place?

• PM = how places are ‘sold’ like products to consumers

• The ppl who will potentially visit, move to area/invest money there

• Marketing comp may be employed to produce websites, design logos, run ad campaigns + social med pages → all of which are designed to promote a particular place

• Lake District promoted as ‘Adventure Capital’ of UK thru a website + related social med pages

How does reimaging alter perceptions of a place?

• R = changing neg perceptions of a place

• Eg 1980s + 1990s → image of Bham was a place of high unemploym, abandoned factories + poor architecture

• Many places in Bham now reimaged by turning old industrial areas into new developm → eg Brindleyplace former industrial site now repurposed into town centre mixed developm incl shops, offices, residential areas, restaurants, bars, gallery, theatre

How does rebranding alter perceptions of a place?

• R = giving place a new identity that is appealing to ppl + investors

• Achieved thru reimaging, place marketing + regeneration schemes

• As part of rebranding, many places create logos + slogans that are designed to be instantly recognisable + create pos assoc w place they’re repres

• Eg → Glasgow rebranding incl slogan ‘People make Glasgow’ to highl what makes Glasgow a great place - the ppl that live + work there

What are the 4 different forms place can be represented?

1. Statistics

2. Maps

3. Films, photography and art

4. Stories, articles, music and poetry

How can statistics represent places?

• Statistics, such as census data, can give quant info ab what places are like → eg popul, popul struct, avg income, crime figures

• can be in form of raw data/visually repres thru things like charts/graphs

• Statistics are objective, but can be used subjectively → eg ppl can select which data they use to show what they want to show. Statistics don't usually tell u anything ab sense of place

How can maps represent places?

• can be used to show any sort of data that has a location → eg can show where phys ft are

• can show quant demographic + economic data → e.g. diff lvls of income by location

• Some maps can show qual info, such as maps of indexes that show lvls of happiness — may be more helpful than quant maps for info ab sense of place

• Maps can show you reliable data, but can also be misleading → eg. historical maps may be inaccur

How can films, photography and art represent places?

• Visual representations show what places look like + can give some sense of char of places

• H, only represent what artist wants to show + can be misleading

• Photog only show what place looks like in a given moment — photog taken at diff times of day can make a place look + feel diff. Photog can be altered so places look diff to reality

• Films + television evoke sense of place that is dependent on nature of story being told → e.g. crime drama set in a city might give a diff sense of place to a romantic drama set in same city:

• Paintings on sculptures can be less reli than films + photogr at showing what place looks like as they are the artist's interpret. can be more effective at conveying sense of place + character tho

How can stories, articles, music and poetry represent place?

• Written representations used to descr places + evoke sense of how it feels to be in that place. usually only offer the perspec of author tho, so don't show complete pic

• Newspaper articles can give lots of detail ab places but may be biased → eg. newspapers may focus on topics + ideas that likely to sell more copies, rather than give balanced perspec on a place

• Stories, music + poetry can give an emotional impression of places, but only from writer's perspec