UNIT CRITERIA
The nature and importance of places
The concept of place and the importance of place in human life and experience
Categories of place: experienced and media places.
Factors contributing to the character of places:
o Endogenous: location, topography, physical geography, land use, built environment and infrastructure,
demographic, and economic characteristics
Relationships and connections
How the demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics of places are shaped by shifting flows of
people, resources, money and investment, and ideas at all scales from local to global.
How past and present connections, within and beyond localities, shape places and embed them in the regional,
national, international and within global scales
Meaning and representation
The importance of the meanings and representations attached to places by people with a particular focus on
people’s lived experience of place in the past and present
o How humans perceive, engage with and form attachments to places and how they present and represent
the world to others, including the way in which everyday place meanings are bound up with different
identities, perspectives, and experiences
o How external agencies, including governments, corporate bodies and community or local groups make
attempts to influence or create specific place-meanings and thereby shape the actions and behaviours of
individuals, groups, businesses and institutions
o How places may be represented in a variety of different forms such as advertising copy, tourist agency
material, local art exhibitions in diverse media (e.g., film, photography, art, story, song etc) that often give
contrasting images to that presented formally or statistically such as cartography and census data
o How both past and present processes of development can be seen to influence the social and economic
characteristics of places and so be implicit in present meanings
Quantitative and qualitative skills
Students must engage with a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches across the theme as a whole.
Quantitative data, including the use of geospatial data, must be used to investigate and present place
characteristics, particular weight must be given to qualitative approaches involved in representing place, and to
analysing critically the impacts of different media on place meanings and perceptions. The use of different types
of data should allow the development of critical perspectives on the data categories and approaches.
Place studies
Local place study exploring the developing character of a place local to the home or study centre.
Contrasting place study exploring the developing character of a contrasting and distant place.
Place studies must apply the knowledge acquired through engagement with prescribed specification content and
thereby further enhance understanding of the way students' own lives and those of others are affected by
continuity and change in the nature of places. Sources must include qualitative and quantitative data to
represent places in the past and present.
(Not in reduced spec but needed for the place studies)
Both place studies must focus equally on:
people's lived experience of the place in the past and at present
and either
changing demographic and cultural characteristics
or
economic change and social inequalities.
Suitable data sources could include:
statistics, such as census data
maps
geo-located data
geospatial data, including geographic information systems (GIS) applications
photographs
text, from varied media
audio-visual media
artistic representations
oral sources, such as interviews, reminiscences, songs etc
, The nature and importance of places
Outline the concept of place
The place where you live is a particular place. However, the meaning of the term place has been debated
and varies according to discipline. Place may refer to the built environment; artists and writers may attempt
to revoke place in their work; a philosopher may regard place as the concept of being-in-the-world.
Geographers may refer to the concept of place as a location on a map, the locale and sense of place.
Location is the starting point of place but they are far greater than simply points on a map. The location is
the geographical point of an area. The locale refers to the character of the place and the activities that take
place there. For example, Glastonbury has its own unique character and is associated with the music
festival. The sense of place refers to the importance of place for people, it refers to the subjective and
emotional attachment people have to a place. For example, Glastonbury is a place of great spiritual
importance for people interested in paganism, religious connections or the King Arthur affiliation.
Outline the importance of place in human life and experience
People define themselves through a sense of place and by living in places and carrying out a range of
everyday practices there. Through this a person-place relationship is developed. People may also ‘buy into’
or ‘consume’ a place. For example, those who like the countryside tend to holiday in rural locations, enjoy
books and television programmes about these areas, spend money on walking gear and maps and even
furnish their houses in a rustic country style. Numerous products are marketed so that people can buy into
the notion of the rural idyll. People’s lived experiences can also be explored by looking at the impact of
place on identity, belonging and well-being. Place can be critical to the construction of an identity. Reading
local newspapers, playing sport for a local team or attending a local fayre event all foster a sense of local
place.
Explain how endogenous factors contribute to the character of a place
Exogenous factors can contribute to the character of place. Character of place refers to the physical and
human features that help to distinguish it from another place. This character may be linked strongly to the
natural environment, but it is more often a combination of natural and cultural features in the landscape,
and generally includes the people who occupy the place, these are known as exogenous factors.
Exogenous factors originate externally and can be influenced by organisations, governments, or
companies. For example, a TNC locating in a small town would change the character of place and make it
feel more like a clone town. An example of this is Tesco locating in Loudwater, Buckinghamshire.
Outline the differences between experienced places and media places
Experienced places are those places that a person has spent time in, whereas media places are those that
a person has only read about or seen in a film or television series. The ‘reality’ of place can be far different
to what is put across by the media and this is most clearly seen through the portrayal of rural places.
Experienced places are often places that a person has lived in. For example, if someone has lived in a city
for a long period of time and become accustomed to that area, the place is considered experienced. An
example of an experienced place would be a hometown. However, media places are often regarded as
known but not directly. For example, someone may feel as though they know somewhere because of what
they have seen about it. An example of this would be Dubrovnik in Croatia, which is where the television
series ‘Game of Thrones’ was based, people may feel they now the place due to their association with the
television programme.
The nature and importance of places
The concept of place and the importance of place in human life and experience
Categories of place: experienced and media places.
Factors contributing to the character of places:
o Endogenous: location, topography, physical geography, land use, built environment and infrastructure,
demographic, and economic characteristics
Relationships and connections
How the demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics of places are shaped by shifting flows of
people, resources, money and investment, and ideas at all scales from local to global.
How past and present connections, within and beyond localities, shape places and embed them in the regional,
national, international and within global scales
Meaning and representation
The importance of the meanings and representations attached to places by people with a particular focus on
people’s lived experience of place in the past and present
o How humans perceive, engage with and form attachments to places and how they present and represent
the world to others, including the way in which everyday place meanings are bound up with different
identities, perspectives, and experiences
o How external agencies, including governments, corporate bodies and community or local groups make
attempts to influence or create specific place-meanings and thereby shape the actions and behaviours of
individuals, groups, businesses and institutions
o How places may be represented in a variety of different forms such as advertising copy, tourist agency
material, local art exhibitions in diverse media (e.g., film, photography, art, story, song etc) that often give
contrasting images to that presented formally or statistically such as cartography and census data
o How both past and present processes of development can be seen to influence the social and economic
characteristics of places and so be implicit in present meanings
Quantitative and qualitative skills
Students must engage with a range of quantitative and qualitative approaches across the theme as a whole.
Quantitative data, including the use of geospatial data, must be used to investigate and present place
characteristics, particular weight must be given to qualitative approaches involved in representing place, and to
analysing critically the impacts of different media on place meanings and perceptions. The use of different types
of data should allow the development of critical perspectives on the data categories and approaches.
Place studies
Local place study exploring the developing character of a place local to the home or study centre.
Contrasting place study exploring the developing character of a contrasting and distant place.
Place studies must apply the knowledge acquired through engagement with prescribed specification content and
thereby further enhance understanding of the way students' own lives and those of others are affected by
continuity and change in the nature of places. Sources must include qualitative and quantitative data to
represent places in the past and present.
(Not in reduced spec but needed for the place studies)
Both place studies must focus equally on:
people's lived experience of the place in the past and at present
and either
changing demographic and cultural characteristics
or
economic change and social inequalities.
Suitable data sources could include:
statistics, such as census data
maps
geo-located data
geospatial data, including geographic information systems (GIS) applications
photographs
text, from varied media
audio-visual media
artistic representations
oral sources, such as interviews, reminiscences, songs etc
, The nature and importance of places
Outline the concept of place
The place where you live is a particular place. However, the meaning of the term place has been debated
and varies according to discipline. Place may refer to the built environment; artists and writers may attempt
to revoke place in their work; a philosopher may regard place as the concept of being-in-the-world.
Geographers may refer to the concept of place as a location on a map, the locale and sense of place.
Location is the starting point of place but they are far greater than simply points on a map. The location is
the geographical point of an area. The locale refers to the character of the place and the activities that take
place there. For example, Glastonbury has its own unique character and is associated with the music
festival. The sense of place refers to the importance of place for people, it refers to the subjective and
emotional attachment people have to a place. For example, Glastonbury is a place of great spiritual
importance for people interested in paganism, religious connections or the King Arthur affiliation.
Outline the importance of place in human life and experience
People define themselves through a sense of place and by living in places and carrying out a range of
everyday practices there. Through this a person-place relationship is developed. People may also ‘buy into’
or ‘consume’ a place. For example, those who like the countryside tend to holiday in rural locations, enjoy
books and television programmes about these areas, spend money on walking gear and maps and even
furnish their houses in a rustic country style. Numerous products are marketed so that people can buy into
the notion of the rural idyll. People’s lived experiences can also be explored by looking at the impact of
place on identity, belonging and well-being. Place can be critical to the construction of an identity. Reading
local newspapers, playing sport for a local team or attending a local fayre event all foster a sense of local
place.
Explain how endogenous factors contribute to the character of a place
Exogenous factors can contribute to the character of place. Character of place refers to the physical and
human features that help to distinguish it from another place. This character may be linked strongly to the
natural environment, but it is more often a combination of natural and cultural features in the landscape,
and generally includes the people who occupy the place, these are known as exogenous factors.
Exogenous factors originate externally and can be influenced by organisations, governments, or
companies. For example, a TNC locating in a small town would change the character of place and make it
feel more like a clone town. An example of this is Tesco locating in Loudwater, Buckinghamshire.
Outline the differences between experienced places and media places
Experienced places are those places that a person has spent time in, whereas media places are those that
a person has only read about or seen in a film or television series. The ‘reality’ of place can be far different
to what is put across by the media and this is most clearly seen through the portrayal of rural places.
Experienced places are often places that a person has lived in. For example, if someone has lived in a city
for a long period of time and become accustomed to that area, the place is considered experienced. An
example of an experienced place would be a hometown. However, media places are often regarded as
known but not directly. For example, someone may feel as though they know somewhere because of what
they have seen about it. An example of this would be Dubrovnik in Croatia, which is where the television
series ‘Game of Thrones’ was based, people may feel they now the place due to their association with the
television programme.
