Lake District & Changing Places: Exam Notes
Exploring Place: Lake District (1)
Location of the Lake District
Location:
Northern England.
West coast.
South of Carlisle/North of Liverpool and Manchester/South-west of Newcastle.
Proximal/under a certain distance to the most westerly side of the M6.
North East of the Irish Sea.
Morecambe Bay lies to the South.
Independent Study
Assessment Objectives
Rural Settlements
Rural Settlement: A village, hamlet, or isolated farm in the countryside formerly associated with primary employment.
Lower population density than urban settlements.
Most residents do not work in the countryside.
Psychologically urban due to residents who have retired from city jobs or work in nearby urban areas.
Rural-urban fringe: Immediate surroundings of an urban area containing elements of both urban and rural areas (e.g., golf courses alongside open countryside).
Village: A small rural settlement with some functions (e.g., post office, shops, public houses, and a church).
Isolated dwellings: Single or pairs of rural dwellings, often in sparsely populated areas.
Hamlet: A smaller cluster of dwellings/farms lacking services.
Honeypot sites: Locations that attract a large number of tourists, placing pressure on the environment and local people.
Social Characteristics of the Lake District
Windermere is described as a honeypot site.
Lake District National Park:
England's largest National Park covering 2362
ewline km^2.Width West to East: 58
ewline km.Width North to South: 64
ewline km.
Windermere:
England's largest lake: 10.5 miles long (over 18
ewline km).Deepest point: 219 feet (66.7
ewline m).
Population:
40,478 people live within the boundaries of the National Park.
Population density: 18 per km^2.
Total dwellings: 24,511.
Owner occupied: 68 %.
Rented: 41.9 %.
Holiday or second homes: 24 %.
Windermere Town:
Population: 8,359 people.
Religious makeup: Largely Christian or No religion.
Christian (3,677), Muslim (10), Hindu (3), Jewish (8), Buddhist (25), Other religion (16), No religion (1,175).
Economic Characteristics: Employment
Colour code the employment table into primary, secondary, and tertiary jobs.
Create a pie chart for the various types of employment in the Lake District, labelled with the data.
The structure of employment in the Lake District has changed over the last 50 years.
Suggest how the employment in the Lake District may have changed since the 1970s.
Explain the reasons for your answer.
Economic Characteristics: Economic Change
Evidence of human settlement in the Lake District dates back before the Romans.
After the Ice Age (about 10,000 years ago), Stone Age people in the Neolithic period arrived and began to clear woodland for farming, hunting, and fishing.
Romans built forts to protect trade routes.
Norse invaders (around the 10th century AD) settled in the valleys, cleared them, built the first villages, and brought Herdwick sheep.
Industrial Revolution:
Various types of rock (slate, granite, sandstone, and limestone) were quarried for building purposes.
Minerals mined: copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, barytes, graphite, tungsten, arsenic, and diatomite.
Examples include Backbarrow Ironworks (1711-1967) and Low Wood Gunpowder Works (1798-1935).
Woodlands were managed for timber, which was used for charcoal in metal ore smelting.
Sustainable woodlands were created by coppicing (cutting young tree stems to encourage growth).
Water was used for corn mills and fulling mills (where wool was processed).
Later, mills were used for other industries, including cotton, paper, flax, tanning, brewing, pencil making, iron manufacture, gunpowder, bobbin turning, and sawmilling.
Stott Park Bobbin Mill (1835-1971) produced 250,000 bobbins a week for the cotton industry.
Productivist years of British countryside lasted until the late 1970s.
The dominance of agriculture has been eroded by:
Growth of global agribusiness and cheaper food imports.
Continued mechanisation of farming, resulting in fewer work opportunities.
Counterurbanisation and the arrival of wealthy incomers.
Changing social attitudes and growth of environmental awareness.
Shift away from agriculture led to growth of tourism industry in rural towns.
Economic Characteristics: Tourism
National Park: Areas set aside to protect the landscape for visitors now and in the future.
Lake District National Park Authority (LDNPA): Aims to reduce conflict while making it an enjoyable experience for both tourists and local people.
Tourism is the main source of income for the Lake District economy.
Tourism brings benefits:
Visitors spend money on accommodation, food, drink, and leisure activities.
Indirectly supports other businesses such as wholesalers and the building trade.
Tourism statistics (2018):
Tourism income: £1.48 million.
Visitor numbers: 19.38 million tourists.
Tourist Days: 28.55 million tourist days.
£3 billion contributed to the region’s economy.
Employment for 37,766 full-time equivalent (FTE) posts; estimated 64,940 people in tourism jobs (around 20 % of the county’s total employment).
Post-Production Countryside
A rural economy where agriculture is no longer a major employer.
Exploring Place: Lake District (2)
Demographic Characteristics
Culture in The Lake District
The Lake District is the first UK national park to be listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.
Beatrix Potter found her inspiration for Peter Rabbit and other characters on her childhood holidays there.
Grasmere Gingerbread is made and sold, set up by Sarah Nelson in 1854.
Political Factors
Key local services are provided by Westmorland and Furness Council and the Lake District National Park.
Built Environment
Culture of The Lake District
Representations of the Lake District
Indicative content includes:
Increased visitor numbers between 2000 and 2017 could increase the number of jobs available for the local community.
However, jobs may be low paid and seasonal.
Increased employment could lead to more tax revenue, leading to increased investment in services.
An increased number of second home ownerships may increase the cost of housing for local residents.
Environmental damage.
Employment opportunities are viable as day tripper numbers are high.
Capital injections are made as tourists continue to arrive.
Continuation of tourism enables preservation of traditional industries, culture, and art.
Renovation of buildings and preservation of the natural environment is more likely in order to keep attracting the tourists.
Factors Influencing Place
Endogenous factors: Place-making factors that originate internally.
Aspects of a site (height, relief, drainage).
Land.
Availability of water.
Soil quality and other resources.
Pre-existing demographic and economic characteristics.
Aspects of the built environment and infrastructure.
Exogenous factors: Place-making factors that originate externally.
Links with and influences from other places.
Movement or flow of people, resources, money, investment, and ideas.
Endogenous vs. Exogenous Factors
The physical geography and landscape of a place may change over time, irrespective of any external connections with other societies.
Places are constantly modified by people living there in deliberate ways.
Land reclamation alongside rivers giving rise to new kinds of land use is an example of endogenous factors influencing place.
A location may also undergo change because of environmental factors.
When non-renewable resources such as coal, copper, and tin become exhausted, productive industries cease.
Farms in Oklahoma and Texas were abandoned during the USA’s ‘dustbowl’ episode of the 1930s.
Exogenous Factors
Place changes are also driven by external events, issues, or processes.
Past and present connections influence a place profile.
Places do not exist in total isolation from the rest of the world.
Connections rarely stay the same for very long.
Exogenous factors often relate to globalisation, a process which has brought economic and cultural change to rural and urban places throughout the UK.
The effects of global flows of people, money, technology, and information are clearly visible in local high streets everywhere.
Diversity of food, fashion, and people has increased in smaller towns and rural places, not just in major cities.
Key Terms
Place profile: The demographic, socio-economic, cultural, political, built, and natural characteristics that shape a place identity.
Flows: The movement of goods, people, services, and information along a network.
Diversity: Differences among groups of people and individuals based on ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status, gender, exceptionalities, language, religion, sexual orientation, and geographical area.
Factors Influencing Place
Flows of people: Shifting flows of people help shape a place profile.
Migration, personal mobility, and commuting impact a place profile.
Age structure: People move as they change in age.
Accommodation changes are associated with changes to income levels and/or household size.
Age structure also impacts the services needed within a place.
Resources: The local availability of a natural resource can lead to the establishment of a primary industry.
If that resource runs out, or is no longer required, the place undergoes change.
Money and investment:
Government spending on characteristics of places, such as infrastructure, education, health, and environment, can greatly influence place profiles.
Private flows of investment are also important and operate over different scales.
TNCs operate internationally and move investment around depending on where in the world they can gain the greatest return; change occurs when a TNC invests or leaves a place.
Small-scale investments such as the opening up or closing down of a shop, factory, or office can make a big difference to a local place.
Ideas: Ideas impact place.
In HICs, most industry is in the service sector, which includes both the tertiary (services) and quaternary (research and development) sectors that are both based on ideas.
This is called the “knowledge economy”.
Factors Influencing Kingston upon Thames
Factors Influencing Kingston upon Thames (Example)
Flows of people:
The movement of students into Kingston as the University’s reputation improves and more international students attend.
Exogenous, as the flow leads to international or national migration to Kingston.
Increased requirement of student housing has led to the building of student accommodation (e.g., the Quebec housing opening in 2010).
Age structure:
Kingston has a large working population, with the most common age being 37 years old.
0-15 years: 19.0 %.
16-65 years: 66.9 %.
65+ years: 14.2 %.
Dependency ratio: 49.63 dependents per 100 working age.
Exogenous, as the factor is influenced by the process of birth and death.
Quite a large dependent population. This means there is a reliance of access to schools (for under 16s) and health care (for elderly). This has led to the opening of new schools such as The Kingston Academy.
Resources:
Accessibility to the Thames.
Geology is clay - minimal mineral resources.
Large water resource: Aquifer underneath London.
Endogenous, as this environment is a product of climatic/topographical factors (removal of water from the aquifer could be argued as endogenous).
Kingston was settled in 838AD. The continuity in the perception of Kingston as a historic town has ensured it is a popular town with tourists. The removal of water from the aquifer has lowered the water table to the extent that the London underground can exist. This means that residents of Kingston can easily access all areas of Kingston when reaching Richmond tube.
Money and investment:
20th century: Major military aircraft manufacturing centre.
20th century: Employment in secondary industry.
Post-industrial era: Tertiary (retail).
Exogenous, as the factor is influenced by the global shift (the shift in industry to NICs and LEDCS).
Kingston is the second most popular shopping district in the UK, with a retail turnover of over £432 million per year.
Ideas:
Kingston University.
There are 12 schools in the wider borough of Kingston.
Exogenous, as influenced by the process of population change and migration.
Increase in graduates from Kingston University, increasing average income in the area. More children attending schools.
Global Factors Influencing Place
Globalisation: Involves widening and deepening global connections, interdependence and flows (commodities, capital, information, migrants and tourists).
Post-colonial migration: People moving to the UK from former colonies of the British Empire during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, to aid the rebuilding of Britain after the Second World War.
Time-space convergence: The lived experience of distant places feeling nearer due to the shrinking of distance by new transport and communications technologies.
Global factors are exogenous factors that change a place.
Globalisation's effects can be seen in most places around the world and have occurred through a number of forces:
International migration from distant places to mainland Europe such as the Roman, Viking and Norman invaders. More recently post-colonial migration and the free movement of workers from the EU has led to increased cultural diversity.
Global and national resource flows during the industrialisation. World trade and the British Empire led to the travel of many British citizens, who returned with new foods, materials and ideas.
Rural-urban migration transformed urban societies during the 1700s and the 1800s, leading to the group of larger urban settlements.
Technological advances and the flow of information and services internationally. Information from locations around the globe can be received instantly through the internet.
Communication and transport technologies has led to distant places feeling closer, as we can have instant access to these places online, and quick transport to visit these places.
The Growth of MNCs in the UK
Fast food is defined as easily prepared processed food served in snack bars and restaurants as a quick meal or to be taken away.
Globalisation and the global popularity of fast-food multinational corporations in the UK has led to a 34% increase in fast food outlets from 2010 to 2018.
MNC is a multinational corporation.
A multinational corporation (MNC) has facilities and other assets in at least one country other than its home country.
Explain why MNC fast food chains become a feature of UK towns and city centres.
There is customer demand for quick, easy and cheap fast food in disposable packaging as we have increasingly become a ‘consumer society’.
The large footfall in town centres provides sufficient demand to make profit.
Globalisation – and the ability to move ideas, goods and businesses internationally has allowed MNC companies to set up on our high streets.
To what extent have they impacted Kingston as a place?
Mostly MNC outlets supply fast food rather than independent because rentals are so high. The high demand for their product and their ability to advertise is also a factor. This has pushed out small independents.
It has contributed to the loss of identity in our urban places. The idea of ‘clone towns’.
It may increase the numbers of visitors to Kingston and the length of time they spend there visiting retail outlets.
Created jobs which are good for local economy (a lot of workers may be migrants).
Suggest what will happen to fast food outlets in UK urban areas in the future?
There could be quicker automated services.
A rise in more health-conscious fast-food outlets.
‘Walkthrough’ rather than ‘drive through’ service style.
More delivery services to rural locations may reduce demand in the city centre (e.g., McDonalds introducing McDelivery in 2018).
How Cloned Is Kingston?
A clone town is a global term for a town where the High Street or other major shopping areas are significantly dominated by chain stores.
Work systematically (think back to GCSE, what sampling system is best to use) through Kingston and complete the survey. You must note down:
The type of the shop.
Whether the shop is independently owned, or a part of regional, national or international chain.
Once you have filled in the survey for 50 shops on your high street, we are going to score Kingston and see whether it is, or is on its way to becoming, a clone town. This is determined by the number of different types of shops (i.e. diversity), and the number of chain stores versus independently owned shops (i.e. identity).
Follow the simple steps below to calculate your town’s score:
For each type of the shop counted on your high street, give 5 points.
For each independently owned the shop counted on your high street, give 50 points.
For each chain store counted on your high-street, give 5 points.
Add up the scores from steps 1–3 and divide the total sum by the number of shops counted (i.e. 50).
Continuity and Change
Describe the changes to established property house prices in Kingston upon Thames
Trend is increasing
Starts in 1995 at £120,000
Ends in 2020 at £605,000
Difference is £485,000 over 25 years
Average rate of change of £19,400 per year
The fastest rate of change is between 2012 and 2016 with an average increase of £38,750 per year
The anomaly is between 2008 and 2009 where the house price decreases by £40,000
Continuity in Kingston
Continuity can be seen in throughout Kingston upon Thames in the buildings and features existing today.
Kingston is known for and celebrates it rich history.
The heart of Kingston is the Market Place, which is laid out in the late 12th century All Saints' church.
The Market House was built in 1840, replacing the earlier parts dating back to Henry VII.
The Market House is still used today as the setting for the food market.
The gold statues in front of the Market House is of Queen Anne and dates to 1706.
The Tudor embellishments on the current Jack Wills building date back to the 1500s.
The ‘Dutch-fronted’ Shop in Thames Street was built in 1920, The original building is now a shop with a different facade but has its original architecture at the top of the building.
The 17th-century staircase was in the Castle Inn on the west side of the Market Place which closed in Victoria’s reign. Although the pub was demolished the staircase can still be seen next to the Costa
The Lovekyn Chapel was built in the 14th century by Edward Lovekyn. Closed under Henry VII, it reopened in 1561 as the Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. It was saved from demolition in 1885 and is now a loved part of the school.
How Have the Changes to Kingston Impacted Peoples' Lives?
Write a description of the change to Kingston using your knowledge and your lesson notes.
Write down the date this change occurred.
Suggest how this impacts the lives of the key stakeholders involved in this change.
Classify any impacts.
Explain how this change has personally impacted you.
Make a judgement, has this change been positive or negative for the residents of Kingston upon Thames?
Justify your decision.
Create a table of the exogenous and endogenous factors that influence place.
Highlight the factors that can be considered both exogenous and endogenous.
Meaning: Meaning relates to individual or collective perceptions of place.
Representation: Representation is how a place is portrayed or ‘seen’ in society.
A place can be represented in both informal and formal ways, which can influence perception.
Formal place representations are produced by political, social and cultural agencies (including local government, education institutions, tourist boards and national heritage agencies), along with large businesses.
Informal place representations are produced by individuals or small groups of people working outside of formal-sector institutions. These are often creative and do not necessarily try to faithfully reproduce reality.
Representations of Place - Lake District
For each of your images, decide if they are formal or informal representations of place.
Using your images of Location A, discuss the following questions and make brief notes:
How is the Lake District represented in the official advertising material?
How does this compare to the other formal media representations?
How does this compare to the social media representations?
What is the intended outcome of each representation?
Which representation appears the most accurate? Explain your reasoning.
Representations of Place - Location B
Using your images of Location B (the location of your choice) consider the similarities and differences in the representation of each place.
a. What similarities are there across:
i. Advertising and promotional material
ii. Statistics
iii. Media
iv. Popular images
b. Does each representing agency use similar techniques to represent different locations?
c. What does each representing agency aim to achieve?
d. Do these aims vary across locations?
Comparing Representations
Create a table comparing the formal representations of the Lake District to the informal representation of the Lake District.
For each representation, consider which stakeholder would be influenced by this view (new residents, original residents, investors, local council, environmentalists).
Manipulation of Perception
How and why have the media changed the representation of Liverpool?
Try to include meaning, representation, attachment, fearscape, rural idyll and rural fearscape.
You could include ethnicity, religion, gender, race
Altering Perception of a Place
How could the media alter perception of a place?
What would the impact of this be?
Manipulating Perception of Place
Perceptions of places tend to be influenced by media and direct experiences.
Different agents of change will aim to manage the perception of place for their intended outcome; either continuity or change.
Government: Strategies are adopted to manage and manipulate perception to attract people and investment to a place. These include place marketing, rebranding and reimagining.
Corporate bodies: A corporate body is an organisation or group of persons that is identified by a particular name.
Corporate bodies will have an interest in a place, and shape perception usually to increase profit.
Airline and train companies will seek to manage perception of place to ensure customers use their services.
The British Council helps to promote the UK through educational and cultural links.
Management and Manipulation of the Perception of Place
Promoting organisations: Employed to promote place, build up a place brand or improve perceptions of place. Investment is crucial for a place’s survival. People are more likely to want to live in a place with a positive perception.
Community and local groups: Take an active role in managing and improving the perception of their place to attract investment and improve opportunities and services.
Why Are Place Perceptions Manipulated?
Decisions to manipulate or change the perception of a place may be motivated by a number of different factors including:
Social
To change negative stereotypes.
To encourage people to move, live and work in an area.
Economic
To attract inward investment.
To improve job opportunities.
Environmental
To improve the quality of the built environment by removing derelict building, wasteland and so on.
Political
To raise the status of a place, which can in turn give political gain.
To rebrand, make more attractive, possibly attract inward investment, and to improve the environment for those living in the area.
Validity of Data Sources
People’s perception of places are influenced by the sources they view the place through.
In the modern age of fast communication and instant information, we often experience a place through other media sources.
When viewing an image to analyse a place, we should use the following four stage procedure:
Denotation - identifying and defining the most basic elements of the image.
Connotation - working out how the image suggests additional ideas and meanings.
Mise-en-scene - looking closely at the ways the image has been arranged and framed.
Organisation - when someone takes a photograph or paints a picture, they decide what to include and what not to include.
Stratford, London
At a cost of £9.29 billion, the London Olympics was the most expensive to date but with the intent of it creating a new sustainable community in the centre of London.
Centred around Stratford the Olympic site used to be:
Derelict factories that created a toxic waste issue in the area.
Abandoned warehouses, which had high instances of crime and vandalism.
Office buildings and shops, many of which had closed down.
The Olympic Village (where the athletes stayed) was designed to be turned into 4,000 new homes after the events, with 3,000 of them (75%) being affordable housing.
9,000 other homes are to be built in the areas around the Olympic Park by 2030 with ⅓ of them being affordable.
However…..
When completed there were only 2,800 units built (980 used as affordable housing).
Because of the prestige of the area and the good transport links high salaried city workers are interested in the housing in and around Stratford.
The 5 years after the Olympics, house prices went up by 65% in the surrounding area.
Stratford has had a number of different representations, from the International Olympic Committee, the local council to both formal and informal media.