Changing Places

Attachment

Attachment

A sense of binding to a particular location due to positive and intense experiences

Accessibility

How easy it is to travel to a place or interact with an individual

Capital

Productive assets, goods or financial stakes

Cultural enrichment

The addition of ideas, traditions, and beliefs due to the arrival of new people

Culture

The way of life for a particular group of people at a particular time, generally customs and beliefs

Endogenous factor

Factors based on local characteristics or perspective originating from inside the place.

• Topography

• Land use

• Physical geography

• Infrastructure

• Demographic characteristics

• Built environment

• Location

• Economic characteristics

Exogenous factor

Factors which originate from outside a place and provide linkages and relationships with other places.

• People - impact of tourists and migrants (Germany has 1.4 million asylum seekers)

• Money and investment - impact of trade deals and tax and businesses (Stratford regeneration - Olympic Park, cost £701 million)

• Resources - availability of food, water, energy and raw materials (UK is food secure due to good transport links)

• Ideas - entrepreneurs bring ideas from abroad which could impact local economy (Detroit had urban planners come in which developed the city and made it get positive reviews on Lonely Planet)

How are exogenous and endogenous factors linked?

Over time, endogenous factors will be shaped by the changing flows of exogenous factors.

Location

The physical point of where a place is.

Place

A location which has different meanings to various people.

Locale

Locations in a place that are associated with everyday activities.

Locale structures social interactions. Different locales encourage different behavioral traits from different people.

Sense of place

The subjective, emotional attachment to a place which gives it meaning.

Placelessness

A place not being unique.

Relph’s theory.

E.g. lots of chain shops on high streets in UK (Costa, Greggs, Tesco, etc). These locales structure same social interactions and develop same Sense of Place = clone towns.

However, some say the social interactions are made by the people that live in the town. Different people interact differently with the same locales.

Attachment theory

Yi-Fu Tuan suggests attachment to a place grows stronger over time. A greater depth of attachment can be formed by a greater level of intensity and greater number of your experiences there.

Topophilia

The love of a place and having a strong attachment to it

Topophobia

The dislike of a place. You can have topophobia and still have a deep attachment to a place (the attachment is just a negative one)

Genius loci

The spirit of a place (every place has a unique atmosphere) based on everything it is made up of (now and in the past)

Place character

The specific qualities, attributes or features of a location that make it unique. Place character is affected by endogenous and exogenous factors.

Insider

Those who feel at home within a place, and may have the following characteristics:

• born in the place

• Hold citizenship for the place

• Fluent in local language and conform with idioms

• Conform with social norms and behavioral traits.

• Feel secure, safe, welcomed and happy in the place

Outsider

The opposite of an insider:

• Not initially feel accustomed to the culture, social norms and dialect of the majority of the community

• Unfamiliar shops and high street - don’t like food

• Unfamiliar architecture

• Not born in the place

• Does not Hold citizenship for the place

• Not Fluent in local language and conform with idioms

• Does not Conform with social norms and behavioral traits.

• Feel insecure, unsafe, not welcomed and unhappy in the place

What changes sense of belonging?

• TIME can change feelings of outsiders into feelings of insiders.

• Flow of immigrants can change feelings of insiders to feelings of outsiders (as characteristics of a place are changed)

The ‘Other’

Refers to people who are unfamiliar or different to the self. (Can cause conflict and social tensions)

Xenophobia

Fear or distrust of something that is uncommon or out of place.

How can perspectives cause social segregation?

1. The ‘other’ refers to people who are unfamiliar or different to the self. When people are considered to be ‘the other’, it makes it easier to be prejudiced against them (dehumanizes them to aliens)

2. Xenophobia and racism is suspicion towards migrants and foreigners or from migrants towards locals = prejudice = stops social integration.

Place meaning

The sense of place and character that different people give to a place.

• It is how a place is represented by tourist organizations, governments, corporate bodies and community groups.

• shaped by past and present connections on a variety of scales.

Rebranding

The process by which forces of change aim to adapt the place meaning of a location.

E.g. encourage tourism by promoting endogenous and exogenous characteristics of a place to overcome negative connotations.

• Community groups use social media to portray a place

• Councils invest in tourism boards to portray place

• Governments improve infrastructure

• Individuals start social media campaigns to portray place

Place representation

Different forms: websites, posters, songs, videos, photographs, news articles.

Or can be quantitative: census data, graphs or measures (such as Index of Multiple Deprivation).

Note: you can turn quantitative data into qualitative data by putting census data into a choropleth map (unreliable and misleading though - color and boundaries inacurate)

Near place

Places which are close to us (can be subjective)

Far place

Those that are distant (subjective).

E.g. getting homesick even though you are close-by your home.

Experienced places

Places we have actually visited and have created an emotional attachment to (depth of attachment depends on intensity and positivity of experience)

Media place

Places we have not visited but have learnt about through media representations. (Changes our sense of place subconsciously).

Which factors contribute to the character of place?

Endogenous and exogenous factors

How can external shifting flows cause places to change:

• demographically

• Culturally

• Economically

• Socially

Flow of people cause change:

• Demographic: changes age (high house prices chase away youth) or gender balance of area (rural-urban migration mostly male)

• Culture: multi-ethnic communities increased (foods, languages, religions)

• Economy: visitors shift primary industry (e.g. St Ives was fishing village but now tourist destination)

• Social inequality: large-scale rural-urban migration = inequalities (slums in Mumbai) = gap widening

How can shifting flows of money and investment cause changes in:

• Demographics

• Culture

• Economy

• Social inequality

Flow and money and investment cause changes in:

• demographics: Gov invests in specific areas to attract people (e.g. London Docklands, 1981, doubled population)

• Culture: introducing new cultures into new places changes the character of those place (Maccies in China)

• Economy: competition from global industries = deindustrialisation which reduces local economy. However, inwards investment creates high value service sector jobs (e.g. London finance sector)

• Gentrification = can lead to poor forced out and clumping together elsewhere

How can external shifting flows of resources and ideas cause place to change:

• Demographically

• Culturally

• Economically

• Socially

Flows of ideas and resources can cause change:

• demographically: contraception ideas

• Culturally: nothing

• Economy: outward flow of good impact local economy (provides employment)

• Socially: in LICs, most money from trade and outward flow of natural resources goes to a handful of people = rest still poor.

Place Identity

What makes that place unique (its flag, language, famous traits). E.g. Cornwall.

Explain how migrant are often perceived as being out of place.

• Not born in that country

• Being a temporary resident rather than a permanent resident

• Not having the right to vote or claim benefits or work

• Not fluent in the language

• May feel homesick or isolated

What affects your perspective of place?

Positionality: Refers to factors:

• age

• Gender

• Race/ ethnicity

• Religion

• Politics

• Socio-economic status

How has globalisation altered our perception of near and far places?

Globalisation has affected people’s experience of far places:

1. travel has improved (mre places experienced)

2. ICT improved = media places

3. Internet allows people to stay connected with people in far places

4. Global companies make far places feel very similar to home

Placelessness = how globalisation is making distant places look and feel the same.

Globalisation

The growing interdependence of countries worldwide through increased movement and exchanges of people, goods, services, money, technology and ideas.

Name a case study for rebranding and place meaning

Portsmouth:

Plymouth:

• aims: connect Plymouth with its past, promotes its image of being a cultural and economic hub and secure its economic future.

• Inspo: Plymouth’s Maritime history, views (Plymouth Hoe looks over Plymouth Sound - natural harbor), architecture

• Who it was aimed at: marine and manufacturing industries, creative industries, young people, locals (#LetsTalkPlym) to see what locals value

• Outcomes: Mayflower400 festival in 2020, £25 million international history center from lottery funding which houses museum, archives, records, galleries and is now a trailhead attraction).