3.2.2. Changing Places key terms
Locale Place where something happens or is set, has particular events associated with it
Location Where a place is e.g coordinates on a map
Perception of Way in which a place is viewed or regarded by people, can be influenced by
place media representations or personal experience
Place Location with meaning, can be meaningful to individuals in ways that are
personal and subjective. Meaningful at social or cultural levels and shared by
different groups of people
Placemaking Deliberate shaping of an environment to facilitate social interaction and improve
a communities quality of life
Sense of place The subjective and emotional attachment people have to a place, developed
through experience and knowledge of a particular area
Agents of People who impact a place through living, working or trying to improve the place
change e.g. residents, community groups and local government
Endogenous Characteristic of place or the factors which have originated internally, aspects
factors like location, physical geography, land use and social characteristics
Exogenous Relationship of a place with other place, and the external factors that affect this
factors Demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics are shaped by shifting
flows of people, resources and money
Infrastructure Services that are essential for living conditions, these are transport
communications, communications infrastructure, and services like electrical grids
and water supply. Other infrastructure is education system, healthcare and
emergency services
Meaning Individual or collective perceptions of place
Media Means of communication e.g. TV, photography, art, they reach or influence
people widely
Objective Not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing
the facts
Qualitative Non-numerical information, descriptive information that comes from interviews
data or artistic depictions, some types of this data can be coded and then may be
subject to quantitative analysis
Quantitative Data than can be quantified and verifies, amenable to statistical manipulation
date
Representation How a place is portrayed or seen in society
Subjective Based on or influenced by personal feelings tastes or opinions
3.2.2.1 Nature and importance of places
, The concept of place
The meaning of the term place has been hotly debated and varies greatly. Broadly speaking there
are three aspects of place: location, locale and sense of place.
Location: Where a place is for example coordinates on a map
Locale: takes into account the effect that people have on their setting, place is shaped by the people,
cultures and customs within it
Sense of place: Subjective and emotional attachment people have to a place, different from another
persons perspective
Theoretical approaches to place
There are three main approaches into which the study of place has been divided
1. Descriptive approach- idea that the world is a set of places and each place can be studied
and is distinct
2. Social constructionist approach- Place as a product of a particular set of social processes
occurring at a particular time
3. Phenomenological approach- How an individual person experiences place, recognising the
personal relationship between place and person. The term ‘topophilia’ describes the bond
between people and place through human perception. The degree of attachment,
involvement and concern that that they have for a place helps the understanding for a place
There is some overlap between theses approaches and one approach cannot be more important
than the other. Places aren't just locations as they are where people, ideas and information come
together. They also hold meaning as they may see the places differently and have different meanings
The importance of place in human life and experience
People define themselves through a sense of place and by living and carrying out activities there a
person-place relationship is developed. This is shown in marketing of holiday destinations and
marketing of food items from where they came from. Particular events are also linked to the
reputation of the place in which they happen like Glastonbury Music Festival. Another example is
how people buy into a place for example how people furnish their houses in a rustic country style.
The importance of a place can be explored through three aspects: Identity, belonging and well-being
Identity
It can be evident at a number of scales:
Localism-emotional ownership of a particular place, NIMBYism as they don’t want the local
area affected by development
o People identity with their local areas as they have greater knowledge of the area and
people, led to more regional governments
Regionalism-locality to a distinct region tat shares similarities
o Used to foster a sense of identity in a place, at the local level, churches, mosques
and synagogues bring people together
Nationalism- loyalty to a nation, patriotism can be considered as a sense of place
o The identity with a place at a national leaves is strengthened by a language, national
anthem, flag and cultural and sporting events
The power of place has also arisen in political protest and the place then becomes a symbol for the
protest and issues associated with it.
A global sense of place
Doreen Massey argues that places are dynamic with multiple identities and they don’t have
boundaries. She says that the character of a place can only be seen and understood by linking that
place to places beyond.
Globalisation of place
Globalisation has made places less important as global capitalism has eroded local cultures and
produced identical places as seen through the same shops in all high streets. James Kunstler
explored this in “geography of nowhere” where there are community-less cities with identical
Locale Place where something happens or is set, has particular events associated with it
Location Where a place is e.g coordinates on a map
Perception of Way in which a place is viewed or regarded by people, can be influenced by
place media representations or personal experience
Place Location with meaning, can be meaningful to individuals in ways that are
personal and subjective. Meaningful at social or cultural levels and shared by
different groups of people
Placemaking Deliberate shaping of an environment to facilitate social interaction and improve
a communities quality of life
Sense of place The subjective and emotional attachment people have to a place, developed
through experience and knowledge of a particular area
Agents of People who impact a place through living, working or trying to improve the place
change e.g. residents, community groups and local government
Endogenous Characteristic of place or the factors which have originated internally, aspects
factors like location, physical geography, land use and social characteristics
Exogenous Relationship of a place with other place, and the external factors that affect this
factors Demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics are shaped by shifting
flows of people, resources and money
Infrastructure Services that are essential for living conditions, these are transport
communications, communications infrastructure, and services like electrical grids
and water supply. Other infrastructure is education system, healthcare and
emergency services
Meaning Individual or collective perceptions of place
Media Means of communication e.g. TV, photography, art, they reach or influence
people widely
Objective Not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in considering and representing
the facts
Qualitative Non-numerical information, descriptive information that comes from interviews
data or artistic depictions, some types of this data can be coded and then may be
subject to quantitative analysis
Quantitative Data than can be quantified and verifies, amenable to statistical manipulation
date
Representation How a place is portrayed or seen in society
Subjective Based on or influenced by personal feelings tastes or opinions
3.2.2.1 Nature and importance of places
, The concept of place
The meaning of the term place has been hotly debated and varies greatly. Broadly speaking there
are three aspects of place: location, locale and sense of place.
Location: Where a place is for example coordinates on a map
Locale: takes into account the effect that people have on their setting, place is shaped by the people,
cultures and customs within it
Sense of place: Subjective and emotional attachment people have to a place, different from another
persons perspective
Theoretical approaches to place
There are three main approaches into which the study of place has been divided
1. Descriptive approach- idea that the world is a set of places and each place can be studied
and is distinct
2. Social constructionist approach- Place as a product of a particular set of social processes
occurring at a particular time
3. Phenomenological approach- How an individual person experiences place, recognising the
personal relationship between place and person. The term ‘topophilia’ describes the bond
between people and place through human perception. The degree of attachment,
involvement and concern that that they have for a place helps the understanding for a place
There is some overlap between theses approaches and one approach cannot be more important
than the other. Places aren't just locations as they are where people, ideas and information come
together. They also hold meaning as they may see the places differently and have different meanings
The importance of place in human life and experience
People define themselves through a sense of place and by living and carrying out activities there a
person-place relationship is developed. This is shown in marketing of holiday destinations and
marketing of food items from where they came from. Particular events are also linked to the
reputation of the place in which they happen like Glastonbury Music Festival. Another example is
how people buy into a place for example how people furnish their houses in a rustic country style.
The importance of a place can be explored through three aspects: Identity, belonging and well-being
Identity
It can be evident at a number of scales:
Localism-emotional ownership of a particular place, NIMBYism as they don’t want the local
area affected by development
o People identity with their local areas as they have greater knowledge of the area and
people, led to more regional governments
Regionalism-locality to a distinct region tat shares similarities
o Used to foster a sense of identity in a place, at the local level, churches, mosques
and synagogues bring people together
Nationalism- loyalty to a nation, patriotism can be considered as a sense of place
o The identity with a place at a national leaves is strengthened by a language, national
anthem, flag and cultural and sporting events
The power of place has also arisen in political protest and the place then becomes a symbol for the
protest and issues associated with it.
A global sense of place
Doreen Massey argues that places are dynamic with multiple identities and they don’t have
boundaries. She says that the character of a place can only be seen and understood by linking that
place to places beyond.
Globalisation of place
Globalisation has made places less important as global capitalism has eroded local cultures and
produced identical places as seen through the same shops in all high streets. James Kunstler
explored this in “geography of nowhere” where there are community-less cities with identical
