CGP The Character of Places

• Endogenous factors


  The internal factors which shape a place's character, including physical factors (e.g. location, topography, physical geography) and human factors (e.g. land use, built environment, demographic and economic characteristics)
• Exogenous factors

  The external factors which shape a place's character, including the relationship to other places and the flows in and out of a place (e.g. flows of people, resources, money and ideas)
• Location


  • Where a place is, e.g. on the coast or inland, in a rural or urban area, at a bridge point or a confluence of roads
  • Places can be characterised by the features that are present because of their location, e.g. a coastal place may be characterised as a port due to its direct proximity to the sea
• Topography

  • The shape of the landscape
  • Places can be characterised directly by their topography, e.g. in a valley places would be characterised as flat, whereas in a mountainous region, places would be characterised by steep slopes
  • Topography also affects other factors that give places their character, e.g. land use
• Physical geography

  • The environmental features of a place, e.g. altitude, aspect, soil and rock type
  • Places can be characterised directly by their physical geography, e.g. a place could have igneous, sedimentary or metamorphic rocks, which form different landscapes
  • Physical geography also affects other factors that give places their character, e.g. economic characteristics
• Land use

  • The human activities that occur on the land, e.g. farming, industry, leisure, residential use
  • Land use is one of the most important human factors in directly defining the character of places
  • Land use also affects other factors that give places their character, e.g. the built environment
• Built environment

  • The physical buildings and infrastructure of a place
  • Places can be characterised directly by their built environment, e.g. town and city centres will have higher density buildings, may have high-rise buildings and more complex and dense networks of roads and buildings, whereas villages will have fewer, lower density buildings and less complex infrastructure
• Demographic characteristics


  • Factors about who lives in a place and what they're like, e.g. age, gender, education level, religion, ethnicity and population size
  • Demographic factors can directly contribute to the character of places, e.g. many people retire to seaside locations which means they can have higher proportions of older people
• Economic characteristics


  • Factors to do with work and money, e.g. income, employment rate and the types of jobs available
  • Economic factors can directly contribute to the character of places, e.g. places such as Kensington in London have a high proportion of above average earners and low unemployment and as such are characterised as wealthy
• Relative location


  • How a place is located in relation to other places
  • The character of places can be influenced by their relative location to other places, e.g. villages and towns outside major cities can be characterised as commuter settlements
• Flows


  • The movement of people, resources, money and ideas in and out of a place
  • Flows of investment, tourism and migration can influence the character of places