Changing Places

• Locale

  Takes into account people's effect on a place - a place is shaped by the culture of the people
• Location

  Where the place literally is - for example, co-ordinates on a map
• Sense of place

  Refers to the emotional attachment people have to a place - this may be different depending on perspective
• What is the difference between space and place?

  Space = a definitive area

  Place = a definitive area with meaning to people through attachment
• What 3 components make up the theory of place?

  • Location
  • Locale
  • Sense of place
• Theoretical approaches to a place:

  • Descriptive approach
  • Social constructionist approach
  • Phenomenological approach
• Descriptive approach (Place)


  Idea that the world is a set place and each place can be studied and is distinct
• Social constructionist approach (Place)


  Sees place as a product of a particular set of social processes occurring at a particular time.
• Phenomenological approach (Place)


  Interested in how an individual person experiences place and person
• What are 3 important aspects of place?

  • Identity
  • Belonging
  • Wellbeing
• Globalisation of a place:

  • Globalisation = refers to the increasing interconnectivity between countries in the world
  • Some argue that globalisation has made place less important
  • Produced identical or homogenized places
  • Places now do not have their own unique qualities - placelessness
• Outsider

  People that originate outside of a said place
• Insider

  People that originate inside of a said place
• Insider's perspective of place


  • Insiders will have stronger relationships with places that they are already familiar with
  • Insiders may oppose any changes or developments that can be made to place (NIMBYism)
• Positionality 


  Refers to factors such as age, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, political status etc, which influence how we perceive place
• Categories of place:

  • Near & Far places
  • Experienced place and Media place
• Near & Far place: 


  • The terms 'near' and 'far' have several potential meanings when it comes to place 
  • They could refer to the geographical distance between places. Equally, they could describe the emotional connections with a particular place and how comfortable a person feels within a place 
  • Some places feel more familiar than others partly due to the personal experiences, but also because of frequent representational exposure   
• Experienced place & Media place: 

  • Those places that a person has spent time in (experienced) 
  • Those that the person has only read about or seen on film (media) 
  • The 'reality' of a place can be far different to that put across by the media  
  • Stereotypical images or rural living permeate but the idyllic image of the countryside put forward by the media gaze and advertising companies hides a host of problems 
• Meaning vs Representation:

  Meaning = people's perception of a place. These may differ between individuals and between groups of people 

  Representation = how a place is portrayed in society. This is often manipulated by the media or managed by image making organisations  
• How do we develop a personal 'sense of place'?

  • Living in a place 
  • Working in a place 
  • Visiting a place 
• What gives a SPACE it's identity? 


  1. Firstspace – an attempt to understand a place through quantitative (number) analysis, and looking at what is physically present in a place. For example, demographic and socio-economic data 
  2. Secondspace – qualitative (word) data for how people feel about a place. Such as art, photography, and interviews – using any type of media that expresses how individuals feel about a place  
  3. Thirdspace – a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis. By doing this, we build a richer image of what a place is like and how it is experienced and perceived  
• Secondspace Data:

  • Songs
  • Movies
  • TV shows
  • Books
  • Poems

  All these show representation of place and allow us to gather data based on ideas around place
• Character of place

  Refers to the physical and human features that help to distinguish it from another place
• Endogenous factors

  Originate internally and may include aspects of the site or land in which the place is built, such as height relief, drainage, soil type, geology and the availability of resources 
• Exogenous factors

  Those that have an external cause or origin. This might include links to or influences from other places, distances from and routeways to other places and the accessibility of the place  
• Factors affecting character of place:

  • Location
  • Political factors
  • Cultural factors
  • The built environment
  • Socio-economic factors
  • Demographic factors
  • Physical geography
  • Mobility of the population