basic concepts in geography

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GEOG 1: “BASIC GEOGRAPHIC CONCEPTS”

HUMAN GEOGRAPHY

• study of the spatial organization of human activity & of people’s relationship with the environment.

• It is about recognizing & understanding interdependence among places & regions without losing sight of the individuality & uniqueness of specific places

Knowledge on human geography can:

• help us understand how places affect & are affected by one another;

• provides better understanding of the place we live in; and

• help us locate & map events that happen 1. LOCATION – Precise point on the earth’s surface,can either be:

a. Nominal – actual name of the place b. Relative – uses a reference point; fixed in terms of site (the physical attributes of the location such as terrain, soil, & water sources) or situation (the location of a place relative to other places and human activities). c. Absolute – uses the grid coordinate system (latitude and longitude) d. Cognitive – refers to the mental perception of a given place; subjective. The cognitive image or our mental maps is also the psychological representations of locations which are created from people’s individual ideas and impressions of these locations.

Europeans started navigation and came up with the idea of latitude and longitude.

• PARALLEL: imaginary horizontal lines on the earth’s global system.

• MERIDIAN: imaginary lines running from the poles.

• EQUATOR: 0° latitude neither east nor west

• LATITUDE: the angular distance of a point on the earth’s surface, measured in degrees, minutes and second, north or south of the equator. Describes how far north or south of the equator a place is. A circle joining places of the same latitude is called parallel of latitude. (1° ≈ 110 km )

• LONGITUDE: the angular distance of a point in the earth’s surface, measured east or west from the Prime Meridian. Measures position east or west of a half circle drawn from the North to the South Pole, and passing through the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, London, England. Lines joining places of the same longitudes are called meridians of longitude.

• The position of the Prime Meridian was chosen by an international conference in 1884.

• DATELINE is 15° (30°/24hrs). Topographic distortion & political influences determines the timeline in a particular place. The reference point used is the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

• Topographic distortion & political influences determines the timeline in a particular place.

Other important concepts: GPS, Champlain’s astrolabe, Dava Sobel, Cognitive Image

2. DISTANCE is the measure of how far apart 2 places are. This can either be:

a. Absolute – physical, actual measure whose units may be in terms of km, m, cm, in, mm etc. b. Relative – distance measured in terms of time, cost and effort c. Cognitive - the distance that people perceive to exist in a given situation

Other concepts:

• Psychological Distance & Social Distance

• FRICTION OF DISTANCE: the deterrent or inhibiting effect of distance on human activity. Could be in terms of time or cost of overcoming distance, that is, the higher the friction , the harder to overcome distance.

• DISTANCE-DECAYFUNCTION: the rate at which activity or processes diminishes with increasing distance; as distance increases, movement decreases. This reflects people’s behavioral response to opportunities and constraints in time and space. In short, this is a function of utility(the usefulness of a specific place or location to a particular person or group).

Nearness Principle (Richard Morill) – people will seek to maximize the overall utility of a place with minimum effort; maximize connections among places at minimum cost; and locate related activities as close together as possible. Thus, pattern of behavior, locational decisions, and interrelations between people and places come to take on a fairly predictable and organized pattern.

Basic law of geog: everything is related to everything, but relationships are stronger when things are near one

another and weaken as distance increases. 3. SPACE – The container of our activities; the extent of an area, usually expressed in terms of the earth’s surface. From this meaning derives the term spatial; and spatial relationships are at the heart of geography

• TIME - SPACE CONVERGENCE: the rate at which places move closer together in travel or communication time or costs. Results from a decrease in the friction of distance as new technologies and infrastructure improvements successively reduce travel and communication time between places.

• PERSONAL SPACE 4. ACCESSIBILITY – opportunity for contact or for interaction from a given point or location, in relation to other locations; ease of movement between places.

• Implies proximity or nearness to something.

• It is a function of Distance, Connectivity, & Mobility.

• Contact and interaction are dependent on channels of communication and transportation such as highways, telephone lines etc. It is a function both of spatial structure and of the transportation system.

• �� accessibility means �� propensity for interaction.

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5. SPATIAL INTERACTION – Interdependence between places and regions can only be sustained through movements and flows. Spatial Interaction is basically all kinds and flows that involve human activity. EDWARD ULLMAN (1912-1976) suggested the following triad of principles to explain SI: 1. COMPLEMENTARITY – occurs when one area has a

surplus of a commodity demanded by a second area. The mere existence of a resource in a locality is no guarantee that trade will develop; that resource must specifically be needed elsewhere. Thus complementarity arises from regional variations in both the supply and demand of human and natural resources. The precondition for interdependence between places:

a. variation from physical environment & resource endowments from place to place

b. international division of labor that derives from the evolution of the worlds economic system.

c. Economic advantages derived from specialization.

2. TRANSFERABILITY – refers to the ease with which a commodity may be transported between 2 places. Cost of item vs. cost of travel. The capacity to move a good from one place to another at a bearable cost Distance may be an obstacle. Even though complementarity exists, the problem of overcoming the distance separating them that trade cannot begin.

3. INTERVENING OPPORTUNITY – alternative origins or destinations; the presence of a nearer opportunity that greatly diminishes the attractiveness of sites farther away. It is important in determining the volume and pattern of movement and flows.

6. DIRECTION – orientation (NEWS), up, down, left, right, near far, middle 7. SIZE AND SCALE: when we say large or small, we speak both of the nature of the place and of other generalizations that can be made out of it. Refers to the degree of generalization represented. Can either be: a. level of analysis (global, international, regional); b. map scale (relationship of size of an area on a map and its actual size in reality, large, medium, small) 8. DISTRIBUTION – arrangement of phenomena on earth, describes how things are arranged on earth; 2 Concepts:

a. PATTERN - gives basis for observation, geometric arrangement in space (linear, radial, ring, random) b. DENSITY – no. of observation per unit area e.g. pop density

9. SPATIAL DIFFUSION – the process of dispersion or spread of new ideas, products, objects across time and space. It is affected by distance, pop density, transport system, ICT.

Importance: helps to reconstruct the dispersal of cultural and technological ideas in the past. To predict Swedish Geographer TORSTEN HAGERSTRAND (1952, The propagation of Diffusion waves) identified 2 types: 1. Expansion Diffusion – a phenomena spread because

of the proximity of the carrier, or agents of change who are fixed in their location. Originating from a source affecting a larger area or population.

Contagious – diffusion thru direct contact (language), virtually every village, town and community is affected by expansion diffusion shaped by local proximity.

2. Relocation – a phenomena is carried to a distant location and is diffused from there; a phenomenon is diffused as an initial carrier or group of carriers, and spreads from there, results from movement of people

3. Hierarchical – phenomena is diffused from one location to another without necessarily spreading to places in between; diffusion from long distance source; downward filtering from larger to smaller scale

10. PLACE – usually regarded as small-scale areas; Any portion of the earth’s surface can be regarded as a place; Every place is unique, each place has its identifying features that marks its uniqueness.

• The physical & human characteristics of a location Uniqueness of Places:

• Places are dynamic with changing properties & fluid boundaries that are the product of the interplay of a wide variety of environmental & human factors.

• Places provide settings for people’s daily lives

• Places exert a strong influence on people’s well-being, their opportunities & their lifestyle choices.

• Places contribute to people’s collective memory & become powerful emotional & cultural symbols.

• Places are sites of innovation & change, of resistance & conflict.

Interdependence of Places

• Most places are interdependent, each filling a specialized roles in complex and ever-changing geographies.

• Individual places are tied to wider processes of change that are reflected in broader geographical patterns.

Interdependence of Geographic Scales

• Global & Local Scales. Global events affect local people in almost all areas of the world (globalization)

• Local events could also have global impacts (gulf war, EDSA Revolution I)

Interdependence as a 2-way process

• Places are not just distinctive outcomes of geographical processes, they are part of the processes themselves. There is a continuous 2-way process in which people create & modify places while at the same time being influenced by the settings in which they live and work.

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REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY

• Core of Geography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

• Evaluates the differences among places, based on recognizing the uniqueness of some places and features that several places may have in common.

• It provides an informed approach to assessing the roles of global processes and their impacts on people in different places.

11. REALMS – Largest unit into which the inhabited world can be divided.

• Criteria include physical and human/social yardsticks. (e.g. South America).

• Result of interaction of human societies and natural environment – a functional interaction revealed by transport routes, farms, & other features on the landscape.

• It must represent the most comprehensive and encompassing definition of a great cluster of humankind in the world today.

12 WORLD REALMS

1. Europe 7. Subsaharan Africa 2. Russia 8. South Asia 3. North America 9. East Asia 4. Middle America 10. South-East Asia 5. South America 11. Australia 6. North Africa/West Asia 12. Pacific 12. REGIONS – An area on the earth’s surface marked by certain properties of commonality or functionality.

• Classifying tool.

• Scientific devices that allow us to make spatial generalizations, based on artificial criteria established for the purpose of constructing them.

• Makes studying the earth’s surface manageable by grouping those areas that are similar and connected & looking for patterns of organization.

• Regions are mental constructs. PROPERTIES 1. Area/Spatial Extent – not abstractions, they exist & occupy space on the Earth’s surface. 2. Boundaries – not self-evident & must be determined on the basis of criteria established for that purpose. 3. Location 4. Hierarchically arranged 5. Dynamic TYPES 1. FORMAL – Essential uniformity / homogeneity / sameness, determined by combination of physical & human geographic features. It is one that is uniform in terms of a specific criteria. Example, world regions based on climate; Businesses & governmental bodies use formal regional division to define their marketing & administrative areas.

2. FUNCTIONAL – Formed by a set of places and their interrelated activities, that is, interconnections rather than uniformity. It literally functions as a unit, economically or administratively, and is usually organized by transport routes, focusing on a dominant city. - dynamic geographic entities interacting with other regions in national and global geographic patterns. 3.VERNACULAR – this is the local region identified by the region’s own inhabitants. PROBLEMS OF THE REGIONAL APPROACH

• Not scientific?

• Regionalizing is subjective and arbitrary

• Defining a region – few have clearly defined boundaries

• Scale – too small or too large

• Globalization – changes the conception of local diversity

GEOGRAPHY’S 5 THEMES: 1. Location: Where is it? Why is it Located there? 2. Place: What is it like? 3. Human-Environment Interaction: How do people interact with and change their environment? Depend; Adapt; Modify 4. Movement: How are people and places linked by communication, and the flow of people, ideas, and goods? 5. Region: What are their unifying features and how do they form and change over time? COMMON PARADIGMS 1. Environmental Determinism – simple model of nature-society relation where nature or the environment shapes or limits the society. The physical environment controls human actions, molds human behavior and conditions cultural development. 2. Cultural Possibilism – as opposed to determinism, man is the active component while nature is passive. It holds that man can manipulate nature for his advantages.

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Image of the City Kevin Lynch

A collective image – map or impression – map of a city, a collective picture of what people extract from the physical reality of a city There are five basic elements which people use to construct their mental image of a city:

1. PATHWAYS – major and minor routes of circulation to move about; the city has a network of major

routes and a neighborhood network of minor routes; a building has several main routes which people

use to get to it and from it. An urban highway network is a network of pathways for a whole city; the

footpaths of a college are pathways for the campus

2. DISTRICTS – a city is composed of component neighborhoods or districts; its center, uptown, midtown,

its in-town residential areas, train yards, factory areas, suburbs, college campuses, etc. Sometimes they

are distinct in form and extent – ex. Wall Street area on Manhattan. Sometimes they are considerably

mixed in character and do not have distinct limits like the midtown of Manhattan

3. EDGES – The termination of a district is its edge. Some districts have no distinct edges at all but

gradually taper off and blend into another district. When two districts are joined at an edge, they form

a seam. A narrow park may be a joining seam for two urban neighborhoods.

4. LANDMARKS – The prominent visual features of the city; some are very large and are seen at great

distances; some are very small and can only be seen up close (e.g. street clock, a fountain, small statue

in a park); they help in orienting people in the city and help identify an area; they should be distinct but

in harmony with other elements in the setting. They are distinct visual object.

5. NODES – a center of activity; distinguished from a landmark by virtue of its active function; it is a

distinct hub of activity. Times Square in New York City is both a landmark and a node.

These five elements of urban form are sufficient to make a useful visual survey of the form of a city. They are the skeletal elements of a city form. Upon this framework hangs a tapestry of embellishments.

basic concepts in geography

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