Understanding Regional Geography

Regions Like all concepts in Geography, Regions are human constructs. They are basic units in the study of Geography, that help us look at spatial extents. We conceptualize regions so we can: – organize phenomena spatially – Understand patterns and make generalizations based on the spatial organization of phenomena – This spatial organization is based on unique characteristics – What can be organized this way? People Places Things/Activities Ideas

Conceptualizing Regions How do we conceptualize regions? – Special or unique criteria identify regions – These criteria can be: Spatial (a particular location on the earth’s surface) – Boundaries that delimit spaces Physical – Climate, Vegetation Cultural: – Like Language, or Religion, or Cultural Practices Economic: – Like Agriculture, Industry

How do we identify Regions? We construct categories that help us identify, classify, categorize regions. These three categories are not mutually exclusive – How we define something has much to do with what we are looking for or why we want to look for it So we can look at a very small “snapshot” of an area, or look at quite large territorial expanses, and both are considered regions We can look at Regions as “Worlds within Worlds” – The Onion Metaphor; Contextual reality, like peeling back layers of onion 1.Formal 2.Functional 3.Perceptual

Formal Regions A region is formal when its characteristics are: – relatively uniform, or homogeneous When those characteristics make it: – distinct from other regions – give it a cohesiveness that sets it apart from other places – More similarities exist within the region than between the region and someplace else – Often defined by administrative boundaries (like official country borders, for example) Because regional boundaries are not open to dispute, physical regions (like mountains, plains, forests, etc, fall in this category) – Example: The Amazon Rainforest, The Alps, The Great Lakes

Example of Formal Regions Remember we use many criteria to identify these categories: Formal Regions can be purely locational, characterized by some aspect relating to their location: Example: Western Pacific, the Balkans, the Middle East Formal Regions can also be based on one criterion or multiple criteria: The European Union covers a wide spatial extent of linguistically, culturally, religiously, industrially and politically diverse territory. It is a formal region not because there are language similarities, or religious similarities, or cultural similarities, but because it is a conceptual union of (primarily) distinct, homogeneous and cohesive economic activity. The Union is also working towards political uniformity and cohesiveness by devising a European Constitution. So even though many cultural, economic, and even physical variations exist within the region, the ‘organizing’ characteristic that defines it as a formal region is primarily economic, and (soon to be?) political.

Functional Regions A functional region is an area that does something – performs a function over a particular space This function can be relatively uniform or nodal (spatial interaction) in its distribution Uniform distribution of a function (or utility) is when a particular characteristic is spread (relatively) consistently and with the same concentration across the entire region; – Example: Physical criterion: Climate – Example: Economic criterion: the Euro – Example: Cultural criterion: English-speaking countries

A functional region is a nodal region (from the Latin nodus [knot]) when it connects or serves as a point- to-point intersection between a: – Core (hub, center) and a – Hinterland (periphery, surroundings) The function originates at the core and disseminates through the periphery – At least one kind of spatial interaction has to occur between the core and hinterland for the ‘region’ to be considered functional – They can be Macro (large-scale) or Micro (small-scale)

Examples of Functional Regions A city-transit system (like the Metro): – Syntagma is the central, or ‘core’ station from which all other lines originate and travel outward to the periphery Newspaper circulation: – National newspapers, printed at the core (hub of town, typically) disseminated throughout the country Malls – Centralized core of commercial activity, all surrounding regions serviced by the shopping center Ports – Act as the hub, core, center of shipping activity, imports, exports, trading that service the entire surrounding areas, entire country A Metro Area (MA) is a good example: – Metro Areas are large population centers major cities in an area with their surrounding zones – They are often the core of political, economic, and cultural activity that spreads out to the surrounding areas Government centers for example Commuting patterns (people who work in the city, live outside the city) Recreation (theaters, stadiums, concert halls, etc)

Perceptual Regions A region is perceptual when it reflects shared, human attitudes about an area – Because it reflects human attitudes, it is a ‘subjective’ snapshot of a particular area – May often bear bias, prejudice embedded in the way we conceptualize particular areas – Often considered to be actual spatial units, even though: they typically have no specific or clearly defined borders no official (formal, i.e., collectively and administratively agreed) name for the area

Examples of Perceptual Regions The Balkans: “Powder Keg” of Europe – Political: References the political tensions linked to linguistic, religious, and often ethnic considerations in the rise of nation-states and the fight for political self- determination in the Balkans of the 19 th century The Bible Belt – Religious/Cultural: References the socially conservative religious beliefs of inhabitants of the Southern/Southeastern United States What examples can you think of?

Worlds within Worlds Generalizing about the world in terms of regions helps us classify the vast information we have about the world in categories that we can compare and contrast Regionalization is sometimes necessary in order to differentiate people, places, events so that we can study them better. Regions are transitive – they are subject to change over time, because borders are renegotiated, political systems or regimes rise and fall, migratory patterns, language diffusion and religious dissemination can all change the “nature” or “character” of a place

Extended Application Think of Africa, one of the seven continents It is the second largest land mass on Earth after Asia It has a population of roughly a billion Comprised of 53 countries About 1/3 of the world’s languages are located in Africa Do you consider it one uniform region? – Why? What criteria would you use to describe its uniformity? – Why not? What criteria would you use to describe its variations?

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICANORTH AFRICA Physical Criteria greater varietymore dry Sahara desert provides a large, strong, sparsely populated border Sahara desert provides a large, strong, sparsely populated border Cultural Criteria great variety of languages (1/3 of all languages are in Africa) Mostly Arabic predominately Christian and local religions Mostly Islam predominately Black Africanpredominately Caucasian political criteria not useful since realm boundary cuts through several countries political criteria not useful since realm boundary cuts through several countries Economic Criteria subsistence agriculturenomadic herding shifting cultivationsubsistence agriculture |oil Historical Criteria West African culture hearthNile River culture hearth | part of Ottoman Empire European colonization occurred in both realms Source: Healy, Mark (2009) Harper College