GEOG 8/25/26

2 Key concepts, difference between space and place

Space is objective

Place is relationship based and subjective, emphasizing the emotional and social connections people have with their environments.


Space and time can be understood as a structured system of relationships

Geography unveil the relations between spatial patterns and social processes


8/27/26 - The world’s physical setting

Important land and water interactions

Mississippi river

Nile river

Amazon river


Physical processes also create habitat conditions


Nile Valley 10,000 BC: Soil management, and labor intensive, local to regional scales


Geographical conditions create opportunities and constraints


9/1/26


Globalization is an ongoing process that increases interdependence among countries, impacting economic, political, and cultural dynamics on a global scale.


1974 very important for the development of globalization, as this was the year when significant agreements and trade policies were established, paving the way for greater international collaboration.


Globalization impacts:
Making-place

  • Cultural markets (movies, music, literature)

  • Communication and cyber-space (memes, self-expression)

  • International standards (human rights, legal conventions)

Economic Development

  • Core-periphery intensification

  • New tech systems

  • Consumers’ demands/market

  • Finance, foreign investments


People are much less global than goods; 281M migrants ≈ 3.6% of world population


What can we blame for current wave of Globalization?

  • Fossil fuels

  • Containers

  • Microchips

  • Food Systems


Trade is growing however, trade is traveling in shorter geopolitical distances.

Reshoring - bringing jobs or production back to a company’s home country after previously moving them overseas.

Nearshoring - moving jobs or production to a nearby country instead of somewhere far away.


9/3/26


North America


U.S. and Canada


Geographic constraints such as mountain ranges

U.S

Historical processes also shaped NA like all the native American tribes. There was a lot of industrial development within urban and rural areas as America started going from an agriculture based country to an industrialized one. Most of this development took place in the Rust Belt in the north east. The north and south had a core periphery relationship. Additionally, globalization has further influenced economic patterns across regions, leading to shifts in demographics and trade dynamics. Since 1990 there has been a deindustrialization process in many areas of the Rust Belt, resulting in job losses and population decline, as factories closed or moved to locations with cheaper labor.


We are now a knowledge-based economy, where sectors such as technology, finance, and services are becoming more dominant, leading to new opportunities and challenges for both urban and rural communities.


Canada


Their geography is worse than the U.S as its very rugged with poor soil which makes agriculture development almost impossible. Their population grew much slower because of this. Most of their population is on the border especially near the Great Lakes. USMCA has stronger rules, modernized trade between all NA countries and its a free trade zone.


9/8/26


Mexico and Caribbean region


Geographic contraints