Why are different places similar?

 Local scale = unique features  Global scale = broad patterns  Globalization – Action or process that involves the entire world and result in making something worldwide in scope (scale of the world is shrinking) *interdependence *integrated ◦ Economic ◦ Cultural

 Most economic activities undertaken in one region are influenced by decision makers located elsewhere  Crops, factories etc.  Transnational Corporations  Ease of movement  Increased specialization ◦ Local labour force

Fig. 1-17: The Denso corporation is headquartered in Japan, but it has regional headquarters and other facilities in North America and Western Europe.

 People around the world have the same aspirations…. What are they????  Local culture is being threatened (food, clothing, religion, language etc.)  Gap is closing in

 McDonald's is seen as a part of most developed economies  McDonald's is to close its business in Iceland because the country's financial crisis has made it too expensive to operate its franchise.  The fast food giant said its three outlets in the country would shut - and that it had no plans to return.  Besides the economy, McDonald's blamed the "unique operational complexity" of doing business in an isolated nation with a population of just 300,000.  Iceland's first McDonald's restaurant opened in  'No sense‘ For a kilo of onion, imported from Germany, I'm paying the equivalent of a bottle of good whisky

 McDonalds feeds 62 million ppl/day ◦ 75 hamburgers every second  $32 billion revenue makes it 68 th largest economy in the world (richer than most countries)  World’s largest toy distributor  For the next 3 years, a McDonalds will open every day in China  McDelivery in 18 countries

 Why are people, objects and activities distributed the way that they are  When & Why vs. Where & Why

 Arrangement of a feature in space  Density: Frequency with which something occurs  ↑ pop. Doesn’t mean ↑ density  NOT related to poverty

◦ Concentration: Extent of a feature’s spread over space  Clustered vs. dispersed ◦ Pattern: Geometric arrangement of objects in space

Fig. 1-19: The changing distribution of North American baseball teams illustrates the differences between density and concentration.

 Increased accessibility  Estimated that no more than 10% of the cultural items of any society are traceable to innovations created by its members & that 90% come through diffusion  We know more, faster  Distance Decay – the farther away 2 things are, the less likely they will interact

 Spread of a characteristic (originates at the ‘hearth’)  Relocation – physical movement of people *migration  Religion (Christianity in NA)  No increase in frequency  Expansion – movement of idea/innovation/trait (snowballing), Remains strongest in place of origin  Hierarchal - Birkenstocks, Sushi (leapfrog)  Contagious - Disease (wavelike, without regard)  Stimulus – Hamburgers in India, Reindeer in Siberia,

 Use of Facebook  Plastic Surgery  High Fashion  Spread of English language  Skateboards

 Reduction in time it takes for something to reach another place. 