1. Subjective meanings and representations of places Simon Oakes
The concept of place (2)
Subjective meanings and
representations of places
Simon Oakes
Hodder & Stoughton © 2017

2. Key A-level ideas
All A-level specifications require students to think critically about:
How we perceive, engage with and form attachments to places and how we represent the world to others, including how everyday place meanings are bound up with different identities and perspectives
How agencies (players) try to influence or create specific place- meanings, and may try to shape the behaviours of individuals, groups, businesses and institutions
How places are represented using different media to give contrasting (conflicting) images to that presented more formally or statistically
How both past and present processes of development influence the social and economic characteristics of places and present meanings
‘Note that a local place may be a locality, neighbourhood or small community, either urban or rural’ (Department for Education)
Hodder & Stoughton © 2017

3. Click to reveal the definitions
Key terms
Place
A portion of geographic space whose identity is distinctive in some way. Particular places have unique landscapes deriving from underlying physical geography and the way people have shaped their surface appearance.
Place identity
The real (objective) or perceived (subjective) characteristics which define a geographical space that has been shaped by people and physical processes over time. Places have different identities in the eyes of different people.
Place meaning
The significance, value or issues which make a place important for an individual or group. Some protected places are associated with historic events and become a symbol of group identity. Others are viewed as ‘problem places’ for which solutions are needed.
Contested place
A place where tension or conflict has arisen owing to the inability of different players to agree how it should be managed, used or represented.
Do you know what these terms mean?
Click to reveal the definitions
Hodder & Stoughton © 2017

4. Real or perceived?
How many of the factors shown here are real and how many are perceived, or imagined? Would everyone agree with the ‘imagined’ factors shown here?
This model of migration decision-making is a good starting point for thinking about real and perceived factors (or influences)
Hodder & Stoughton © 2016

5. The ‘shrinking world’ effect
Changing perceptions
The ‘shrinking world’ effect
This is another starting-point for exploring place perceptions
Thanks to technology, distant places start to feel closer because they take less time to reach
Place stories may therefore have several
chapters, each of which features important
connections with other near or far places
(Figure 2). These layered connections have
built up to produce an ‘accumulated history’
shown in each place’s cultural landscape.
Roman pottery, Viking burials and medieval
building foundations lie under the streets
of York. Surviving buildings from different
eras are reflected in the contemporary glass
structures in the City of London. Flows of
goods, people and money have shaped these
places over millennia to produce ‘a nexus of
connections and linkages’.
Hodder & Stoughton © 2017

6. Conflicting meanings Place meanings matter!
This is because the views of different groups can influence how they want a place to be managed
This can lead to real tension and conflict

7. Rural representations
Conflicting views about rural places may arise because of the way they are represented in different media as ‘idyllic’
Rural places are valued by some people on account of their tranquillity, peacefulness, wild landscapes and history: collectively, these qualities are called the rural idyll
But this is an exaggerated and over- romanticised ‘dream’ of rural life which is not shared by everyone. Other people in rural areas simply want to earn a living
This means conflict can arise over plans to develop new jobs and housing in rural areas
Hodder & Stoughton © 2017

8. Contrasting representations
Think about the different ways cities are represented.
Photographers produce utopian images of ‘futuristic’ cities with no visible signs of poverty, conflict or pollution
In contrast, science fiction writing about cities is often dystopian
Could these kinds of representations affect the way people really think about cities?
Hodder & Stoughton © 2017
Photograph credit © D’Avide Damico (Flickr CC license)
2000 AD © 2016 Rebellion A/S. All rights reserved AD is a registered trademark

9. Investigating different media
Ghost town is a song about the deindustrialisation of Coventry
Creative arts are used by both ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ to create representations of places which may influence how those places are perceived, at national and global scales
Films, music, novels and paintings can have a powerful effect on how the outside world views a place
Ghost Town is an informal place representation created by ‘insiders’ (The Specials are from Coventry). It was a huge hit around the world.
Hodder & Stoughton © 2016

10. Re-imaging places
Images (including those of policy makers and regeneration organisations or tourist agencies) play a crucial role in formal place advertising.
Rebranding is usually undertaken by a partnership of local government agencies and private marketing and brand consultants whose core aim is to ‘sell’ a place. This often involves reimaging places.
Reimaging involves the cultural reinvention of place.
It concerns the range of ways that places are culturally constructed through art, photography, film, writing, performance, sound and other forms of representation.
Hodder & Stoughton © 2017

11. Re-imaging and conflict
Conflicts can occur among contrasting groups in communities which have different views about priorities and strategies for regeneration.
Attempts to mobilise local support for place remaking may give rise to dissenting views. This is because every stakeholder in a place may see things differently.
One person may judge the destruction of a particular landmark by a new development as so grievous that it cancels out any gains.
Other groups groups may fail to understand why some things are worth protecting. English Heritage has awarded protected listed building status to numerous pieces of modern architecture, including London’s Trellick Tower. Many people cannot understand why it needs preserving.
Hodder & Stoughton © 2017

12. Fieldwork ideas
Perception survey of place, looking at contrasts in perceived safety, e.g. day and night, male and female views
Multi-media place representations, including primary (own recordings) and secondary (other media) soundscapes, advertising imagery, survey group interviews to show attitudes towards place images
Further reading
Changing Places (Emma Rawlings Smith, Simon Oakes, Alastair Owens - Geographical Association, July 2016)
Royal Geographical Society A-level resources
Hodder & Stoughton © 2016

13. This resource is part of Geography Review, a magazine written for A-level students by subject experts. To subscribe to the full magazine go to:  
Philip Allan Publishers © 2015