Shaping the character of places

Endogenous factors

Internal factors that help shape the character of a place. These can be physical geographical features as well as human.

Exogenous factors

External factors that help shape the character of a place. These are generally the relations that a place has with other places that affects its characteristics.

Location: Where a place is (on the coast/inland, urban/rural). Helps characterise a place because of the features that are present

Topography: Shape of the landscape. Helps characterise a place as depending on land shape can decide what it is used for, for example very flat regions are used for farming.

Physical geography: Features of a place (altitude, soil, rock type). Helps characterise place as rock type can create different landscapes, or if a place is rich in a natural resource could be a mining area.

Physical endogenous factors

Land use: Human activities that occur on the land. Land use can directly define character of place, place can be rural if it is used for farming. Land use changes over time.

Built environment + infrastructure: Areas in place that are built by humans. Infrastructure is transport, communications and service made by humans. Built environment shapes character as many buildings, and dense road networks are in urban areas whilst rural areas have village halls and fewer buildings.

Demographics and economic characteristics: Who lives there and what they’re like. Wealth of a region affects it’s character, as it can be more developed than other regions. Some places seen to be areas for certain ages and races.

Human endogenous factors

Exogenous factors shaping place

Places can be characterised by the movement or flow of different things across a place such as resources and ideas, people (migration), money and investment.

What are shifting flows

Shifting flows are people, resources, money and investment and ideas which shape places