Urban

• Changing places


  • Relationships and connections
  • The characteristics of places
• Character of a place

  • Demographic-population size and ensure
  • Geology
  • Location
  • Past and current opportunities
  • Cultural, social behaviour and language
  • Formal or informal relationships with other settlements
  • Built environment, building type and density
  • Political power and influence, for example planning
• Factors that can shape the character of places

  1. Flows of people

  2. Flows of materials

  3. Flows of capital
• Flows of people


  • Migration to live or work can result in changes to the character of a town
  • People moving to another area for work can change the character of a village
• Flows of materials


  • Reliance on raw materials from another location
  • The port of Liverpool linked to the growth of the cotton industry in Lancashire
• Flows of capital


  • Foreign direct investment from a company based elsewhere can influence the character of a region
  • Disinvestment by a company can change the character of a town quickly
• Globalisation and the spread of MNCs, especially fast-food chains, has led to a decrease in the uniqueness of some places
• Connections


  Any types of physical, social or online linkages between places
• Place


  A portion of geographic space to which meaning has been given by people, best understood as a small settlement or a neighbourhood within a larger city
• MNC (Multinational Corporation)


  A business that has factories and/or offices in more than one country, often with a centralised head office in its home country
• Continuity and change can affect lives
• Factors that shape the character of a place can affect the well-being of people
• The Olympic Stadium in London is an example of how a place can change
• Perceptions of a place

  Different people have varying perceptions of a place based on information from direct experience or indirect experience
• Factors influencing the perception of a place

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Socio-economic status
  • Socio-cultural positioning
• The factors shown in Table 2.1 will influence your perception of a place
• Formal place representations


  Produced by political, social and heritage agencies, along with large businesses and organisations
• Informal place representations


  Produced by individuals or informal groups, often creative and do not necessarily try to objectively produce reality
• Examples of ways a place can be represented

  • Formal: News media, Photographs, Census data, Statistics, Advertising, Geospatial data, Promotional materials
  • Informal: TV dramas, Films, Opinion, Social media, TV, Literature, Graffiti
• Place meanings can have an effect on continuity and change for places, and can affect the lives of people
• The way in which different groups perceive and give meaning to a place can lead to variation in the demand for changes to a place
• Changes to a place could be physical, economic or social
• Employment structure


  How the workforce is divided between the four main employment sectors: primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary
• Modified Clark-Fisher model


  Identifies three stages of economic change: pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial
• Characteristics of changing economic stages

  • Pre-industrial: Primitive economies with primary sector dominating
  • Industrial: Growth in secondary and decline in primary, some increase in tertiary
  • Post-industrial: Primary activities remain low, secondary declines, tertiary dominates, growth in quaternary
• LIC (Low-Income Country)


  GNI per capita below $1,005
• HIC (High-Income Country)


  GNI per capita over $12,235
• Emerging economy


  Middle-income countries
• Economic development changes the employment opportunities in the different economic sectors, increasing the need for retraining
• Globalisation may alter the sequence and speed of economic development
• Forces and factors influencing economic restructuring

  • Changes in technology
  • Depletion of resources
  • Changing lifestyles and tastes
  • Globalisation
• Deindustrialisation is the process of economic and social change caused by a reduction in industrial activity or employment
• Since the late 1970s the UK has seen a significant decline in employment in the secondary sector, a smaller decline in primary activities, an increase in and domination of the tertiary sector, and growth in the quaternary sector
• Changes in UK employment 1998-2017

  • Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 453,000 (1.2%)
  • Mining and quarrying: 64,000 (0.2%)
  • Manufacturing: 2,669,000 (7%)
  • Professional, scientific and technical: 3,055,000 (7%)
  • Other (e.g. construction): 2,655,000 (7.7%)
• Deindustrialisation does not mean less is produced, as manufacturing production has continued to grow in the UK despite declines in secondary sector employment
• Rural areas have experienced employment changes too, with primary sector job losses linked to coal mine closures and farming modernisation
• Impacts of deindustrialisation on people in rural areas

  • Positive: More leisure and recreation opportunities

  Negative: Loss of traditional jobs, deprivation, out-migration of younger people
• Many of the impacts of deindustrialisation in urban areas are similar to those in rural areas
• The loss of traditional and secondary industries in urban areas can lead to a lack of job opportunities, a cycle of deprivation, and social inequalities
• The cycle of deprivation in deindustrialised urban areas


  1. Land becomes derelict

  2. People leave the urban area

  3. More jobs lost

  4. People who stay are mainly elderly or low-income groups

  5. More crime and antisocial behaviour

  6. Quality of life declines