PMT Changing Places

• Changing places is a different type of unit to others you will study. There are concepts and knowledge to learn, but less than in other units. Changing places is based around people and is more conceptual and contextual
• You will study at least one local place where you live or an area or have conducted fieldwork. You will also need a distant place which has ideas of local, regional, national and international connections. These two places should form case studies
• Location


  The physical point of where a place is
• Place


  A location which has different meanings to various people
• Edward Relph


  • Key influence on modern day understanding of place due to his 1976 publication 'Place and Placelessness', which aimed to reimagine the static and dimensional aspects of place that were once widely accepted

  
• Locale


  Locations in a place that are associated with everyday activities
• Sense of place


  The subjective emotional attachment to a place which gives it meaning
• Placelessness


  A place is not unique
• Attachment


  A feeling binding one subject with another
• Topophilia


  The love of a place and having a strong attachment to it
• Topophobia


  The dislike of a place
• Types of places


  • Near places
  • Far places
  • Experienced places
  • Media places
• Genius loci


  The spirit of a place, suggesting that every place has a unique spirit or atmosphere
• Place character


  • The specific qualities, attributes or features of a location that make it unique
• Endogenous factors


  • Land use
  • Topography
  • Physical geography
  • Infrastructure
  • Demographic characteristics
  • Built environment
  • Location
  • Economic characteristics
• Exogenous factors


  • People
  • Money and investment
  • Resources
  • Ideas
• Over time, endogenous factors will be shaped by the changing flows of exogenous factors
• The influx of people as an exogenous factor during the 2016 Olympics will have caused the city to have become busier, leading to a short-term impact on sense of place
• In the long-term, the investment and movements to bulldoze some areas of the Favela's will have changed the economic and social characteristics of the city. The built environment is affected by the new stadiums that were built
• Insider


  People who feel at home within a place
• Outsider


  The opposite to insiders
• Feelings of unfamiliarity may change in the long-term. As the family get used to living in that place and integrate into society, they can feel like insiders
• The children of an immigrant family will have a different experience of place to their parents, leading to a unique sense of place for the area where they live
• There is a pattern whereby ethnic groups cluster in certain areas, potentially because people feel more comfortable around those who share their culture and background
• Unfamiliar


  Not familiar
• Country of origin


  The country a person is from originally
• Architecture


  The design and structure of buildings
• Vehicles


  Modes of transport
• Feelings of unfamiliarity


  May change in the long-term
• Integrate into society


  Become part of the local community
• Insiders


  People who feel they belong to a place
• Outsiders


  People who feel they don't belong to a place
• Unique sense of place


  The distinct way a person experiences a place
• Ethnic groups cluster in certain areas, potentially because people feel more at home surrounded by others of the same ethnicity
• Clustering of ethnic groups


  The area will adapt towards that culture over time, which may attract more people from that ethnicity to move there
• Perspective of place may change so that people begin to feel like outsiders, even if they initially identified as insiders to a place
• Large influxes of immigrants into an area


  Can change the characteristics of a place
• High street changing to cater for new cultures


  Can make the original residents begin to feel like outsiders as their surroundings become unfamiliar
• Some people may embrace multiculturalism and the changes that occur as a result of immigration and like the diversity of their high street
• Diversity makes some places appealing e.g. Chinatown attracts large numbers of tourists each year