GY100 Lecture Week 2 Notes:

Space can be characterized by (not defined by):

-​ Home to all things
-​ Dynamic and changing
-​ Perceived differently by each person
-​ Can be described using the language of opposites (left/right, centre/periphery, below/above)
-​ Can be measured along all four dimensions; height, depth, width and time

Most geographers nowadays reject the view of space as a background or a container, rather believe that space is made
through activity in the world and at the same time it actively makes the world. We can also think of time-space.

Ways of thinking of space are generally defined and explained by:

-​ Empirical space: space as it is measured or mapped. Fpr example, the way the london tube map is formatted and
illustrated allows various people to have differing conceptions of the city, i.e. people may judge the size of a city
or the distance between two places by the number of stops. Measurements of space are also constantly changing,
with the Egyptians using the Royal Cubit to measure for the pyramids, whereas now the International Bureau of
Weights and Measurements changed the definition of a kilo.
-​ Flow space: space is not terrain or relief, measuring obkjects of relative distance, rather it is a series of
connections or pathways that are often circular, e.g. movements of labour to and from home and flows of money
and commodities, with the end goal of mapping movements rather than start and end points.
-​ Representations of space: are just as important as space itself, with images helping us to underrstand space.

Spatial science emerged in the mid 20th century, with geography being accepted as a science, allowing researchers to
build general models of how the world works. Propelled by the rise of mathematical methods and statistical analysis and
positivist philosophies of knowledge. Greatly concerned with issues of distance, connections, and arrangements between
phenomena in space. Space conceptualized as a surface on which relationships between measurable phenomena are played
out. Produced a wide range of theories at the interface of economics and geography

The Von Thünen model is a predictive theory that explains how land use is determined by the cost of land and the cost of
transporting products to market. It was developed by Johann Heinrich von Thünen, a skilled farmer and economist, in
1826. The model is based on the idea that agricultural land use is formed in concentric circles around a central market
town.
The model's main assumptions are:
●​ The market is in a central location
●​ The land is homogeneous, meaning it is flat and without mountains or rivers
The model predicts that the most productive activities will be located closer to the central market, while less productive
activities will be located further away. For example, intensive farming will be located closer to the city center than forests.
Positivism is a philosophy that insists knowledge relies on observable or ‘positive’ data that can be measured, allowing
the production of law like statements or mathematical models. Positivist science relies on sampling as it is impossible to
fully characterize it, and therefore requires spatial assumptions. However the main critique of positivism is its assumptions
of rationality and the idea of the rational economics man, which marxist social scientists particularly disagree due to
positivism’s denial of alternative ways of knowing and social behaviour. Positivism has had strong effects on the field of
GIS.

Radical views on space believe that space plays an active role in the production of society, and these geograohers, such as
David Harvey, argue that space expresses the fundamental contradictions of capitalist economies. The production of space,
as theorised by Henry Lefebvre - one of the most influential spatial theorists, argued that space is produced under
conditions of capitalist inequality:
-​ The growth of a body in the world produces here/there. forward/backward.
-​ Unequal social relations create spaces that constrain & shape lives:
-​ Contemptorary architecture dictates that domestic labourers cook, clean and take care of children in
isolation rather than in shared communal spaces.
-​ Racist police enforcement dictate that city streets in minority neighbourhoods become subject to hyper
surveillance.
-​ In capitalist societies space is the result of capitalist relations of production (between capitalists and
workers) and how these relations transform raw materials to create profit.
-​ Space becomes a commodity: Commodification of space is the process of transforming public areas into
economic commodities, often for profit or control. This can involve packaging, theming, and commercializing
public spaces to create leisure experiences that are driven by profit.
-​ People have a right to create places as they see fit
Place was rediscovered via humanistic geography, whereby previously, spatial science ignored the emotional aspects of
human existence, however humanistic geography aimed to uncover people’s varying sense of place. Humanistic
geographers aimed to explore how places shape their residents’ sense of place, whereas ealry geographers considered the
boundaries as separating areas.

Yi-Fu Tuan:
-​ We know the world through our human perceptions & experiences of places.
-​ Topophilia = “the affective bond between people and place”.
-​ Space is an open arena of action and movement, while place is about stopping and engaging; it is about ‘value’
and ‘belonging’.

Critical geography challenged the notion of place as rooted in authenticity, and rather that places are socially constructed,
with places being threatened by the hypermobility of capital. Global flows have led to the hypermobility of capital and
thus can lead to the loss of a sense of place for locals, leading to social unrest and conflict in those areas, and these
struggles over place can appeal to parochial and exclusive politics (racism) as protecting usually involves distinguishing
between us and them, insiders and outsiders. In contrast to this, people are often characterised by their place of origin,
however place is porous and there can be many identities attached to that sense of place.

By the 1990s, globalization (economic, cultural) forced geographers to rethink the concept of ‘place.’ How can we talk
about ‘place’ in a world of increasingly interconnected global relationships?
-​ A mosaic (regional) view emphasizes borders and differences; it understands places as unique and distinct from
each other, each with a particular internally coherent identity. It can be used in arguments of ‘defensive localism’
in which new entrants to a place might be seen as a ‘threat’ to the ‘true character’ (authenticity) of that place.
-​ On the other hand, the globalization-as-homogenization view suggests that places are becoming the same.

A third way: We can think of how global processes impact specific places in different ways, and how each place also
uniquely impacts global forces and has varying degrees of power over those processes. The Global Financial System
impacts everyday banking practices in London and in Calcutta, but some locations are saddled exploitative loans while
others reap the benefits of easy credit. The “lottery of location” applies at all scales.

Conclusion
-​ Space is abstract, seemingly empty and measureable, yet at the same time full and less empirically concrete
than at first glance.
-​ Space is not just a container of action: it is also a shaper of activity – Geography Matters both physically
and relationally!
-​ Place is both particular yet porous and permeable. Places are both located in space whilst making up its
relational qualities, AND whilst being shaped by space.

A sense of space requires a sense of place and vice versa