WHY ARE REGIONS SO HARD TO DEFINE?

Let’s do a couple of activities ► In one color draw a line around what you think is, “THE SOUTH” ► In another color draw a line around, “THE MIDWEST” ► In yet another color, draw a line around, “THE NORTHEAST” ► What about “THE SOUTHWEST”

First, Regions are about SCALE

Global Scale

National Scale

State and County Scale State and County Scale

Wards, Precincts, Census Tracts

What is a Region? A region is an area with one or more traits, characteristics, features that are common and make it different from surrounding areas.

What regional maps are these?

The College Board® by Region

The Southeastern Conference

What about population and area?

The WAC members

The “Fed” has regions

Another region

Transition Zones in Regions ► The boundaries are not in stone – change happens along the way ► Is Arkansas “southern” or not? How Southern are we? ► Compare the breakfast menu in Ft. Smith with Memphis ► What about iced tea? ► What about other places and iced tea (Boston, South Carolina, others) ► What about lacrosse?

Regions are defined by their physical and human characteristics

There are 3 types of regions

FORMAL REGION ► Also known as a uniform region ► It is characterized by a common human property, such as the presence of people who share a particular language, religion, nationality, political identity or culture, or by a common physical property, such as the presence of a particular type of climate, landform, or vegetation. ► Political entities such as counties, states, countries, and provinces are formal regions because they are defined by a common political identity. ► Other formal regions include climate regions (e.g., Mediterranean) ► Landform regions (e.g., Piedmont region of Pennsylvania) ► Economic regions (e.g., wheat belt of Kansas) ► Formal regions can be defined by measures of population, per capita income, ethnic background, crop production, population density and distribution, or industrial production, or by mapping physical characteristics such as temperature, rainfall, growing season

Germany is formal region

Corn Production (and Ethanol Plants)

Piedmont Region of Pennsylvania

FUNCTIONAL REGIONS ► Organized around a node or focal point with the surrounding areas linked to that node by transportation systems, communication systems, or other economic association involving such activities as manufacturing and retail trading. ► A typical functional region is a metropolitan area (MA) as defined by the Bureau of Census. For example, the New York MSA is a functional region that covers parts of several states. It is linked by commuting patterns, trade flows, television and radio broadcasts, newspapers, travel for recreation and entertainment. ► Other functional regions include shopping regions centered on malls or supermarkets, area served by branch banks, and ports and their hinterlands.

A less formal look at functional regions ► Defined by a set of activities, connections or interactions ► For example: ► Newspaper circulation area ► Commuter traffic patterns ► Subway systems in NYC, Boston, etc. ► Highway systems

NYC Subway – a functional region

Functional Region

Perceptual Region ► Construct that reflects human feelings and attitudes about areas and is therefore defined by people’s shared subjective images of those areas ► Tends to reflect the element of people’s mental maps, and, although it may help to impose a personal sense of order and structure on the world, it often does so on the basis of stereotypes that may be inappropriate or incorrect. ► Examples such as: Southern California, Dixie, and the upper Midwest are perceptual regions that are thought of as being spatial units, although they do not have precise borders or even commonly accepted regional characteristics and names.

Let’s look at our own perceptions, stereotypes and attitudes ► What’s the first thing that comes to your mind……. ► Southern California ► The South or Dixie ► Iraq ► New York City ► Utah ► Detroit

Just where is Dixie?

What about Pearcy’s Proposed Regions?

Examples of Perceptual Regions based on politics

????

Not exactly perceptual – but does have those characteristics

Not Really Regions – What does your state do well (in a negative way)? Opportunities for thinking and research from bigthink.com

Perceptual, maybe – but how could this region be formalized?