This document provides an overview of key concepts from Chapter 1 of Human Geography: Places and Regions in Global Context. It discusses how geography matters in the increasingly interconnected world and how places and regions are complex and dynamic. It also summarizes geographic tools and methods like maps, GIS, spatial analysis and regional analysis that geographers use to study relationships between people and environments at various scales. The chapter emphasizes how geography provides a way to understand changes places undergo over time through the geographical imagination.

1. Chapter 1 Lecture
Human Geography: Places and
Regions in Global Context
Sixth Edition
Geography Matters
Wendy A. Mitteager
State University of New York, Oneonta

2. Key Concepts
• Geography Matters
• Place Matters
• Geographic Tools
• Spatial Relationships
• Regional Analysis
• Geographical Imagination
Figure 1.3 Influence of
place in a center city
neighborhood, Boston
Apply your knowledge: Why would a corporate
employer value knowledge of geography in prospective
employees?
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

3. Geography Matters
• Increasing geographic interdependence of the world
• Instant global communications
• Rapidly changing international relationships
• Environmental degradation
• Places and Regions
Figure: Chapter 1 Opener Protesting rising food prices in Maputo, Mozambique
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

4. Places Matter
• Geographic Literacy
– Lack of geographic understanding and
knowledge among Americans
• Places are dynamic and complex
Figure 1.1 Destruction caused in Figure 1.2 Quality of life is impacted
Japan by the March 2011 tsunami by this petrochemical plant in
California
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

5. Places Matter (cont’d)
• Emotional and cultural symbols
– Graceland (Memphis)
• Ordinary places with special meaning
– Childhood neighborhood
• Sites of innovation, change, conflict
Figure 1.4 Anti-government demonstrators flood Tahir Square, Cairo,
Egypt on February 11, 2011
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

6. Human Geography
• Spatial organization of human activities
• Relationships between people and their environments
• How and why relationships are important
• Geographers solve a variety of problems on scales from
local to global
– Marketing, GIS, international affairs
Figure 1.A Urban planners examine a model of a new town near Stuttgart, Germany
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

7. Geographic Methods and Tools
• Observation representation analysis
models
• Qualitative and Quantitative data
• Remote sensing
• Maps
– Social products
– Map Scale
• GIS
Figure 1.5 Landsat satellite image:
– Military to private sector Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD
area
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

8. Geographic Methods and Tools, (cont’d)
Figure 1.6 Topographic map of Lugano, Figure 1.7 Isoline map of
Switzerland. Scale of 1:25,000 with 20 precipitation for the continent of
meter contours Africa
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

9. Geographic Methods and Tools, (cont’d)
Figure 1.9 Located charts are generated by combining
graphs, charts, or symbols with base maps
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

10. Geographic Methods and Tools, (cont’d)
Figure 1.15 Lines of Latitude and Longitude provides a grid pattern on the Earth
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

11. Map Projections
• Systematic rendering of the Earth’s surface onto
a flat surface
• Equidistant, Conformal, Azimuthal, Equal-area
– Distortion of distance, direction, shape, area
Figure 1.11 The Robinson projection: Figure 1.12 The Peters projection:
distance, direction, area, and shape are all controversial “Europeanization” of Earth
distorted
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

12. Map Projections, (cont’d)
Figure 1.10 Comparison of map projections
Apply your knowledge: Describe different scenarios that illustrate
situations in which the use of different projections would be appropriate.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

13. Maps and GIS
Figure 1.13 GIS technology used to map Figure 1.14 Cartogram
land cover demonstrating spatial inequality of all
people living on US$10 or less a day
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

14. GIS Applications
• Geodemographic research
Census data combined with commercial data for market research in NYC
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

15. Spatial Analysis
• Location
– fixed coordinates of latitude and longitude
– GPS
• Site and Situation
– Physical attributes and relative location
Figure 1.16 Denver, Colorado is a major center for cable TV because of site
and situation
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

16. Spatial Analysis, (cont’d)
• Cognitive images (mental maps)
– Based on perception and experience
Figure 1.17 Detail of Washington DC
depends on this person’s experiences and
perception
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

17. Spatial Analysis, (cont’d)
• Distance • Space
– Absolute or relative – Absolute or relative
– Cognitive distance – Cognitive space
– “Everything is related to – Topological space
everything else” (connectivity)
– Friction of distance
– Distance-decay
Apply your knowledge: Provide examples of the inhibiting effect distance has
on human activity
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

18. Spatial Analysis, (cont’d)
• Accessibility
– Opportunity for interaction
– Proximity
– Distance and connectivity
– Airline hub cities are more
accessible than other cities
Figure 1.18 Metro map of Milan, Italy is a
topological map showing connectivity
between points in the city.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

19. Spatial Analysis, (cont’d)
• Spatial Interaction
– Movement and flows
of human activity
– Places can
complement each
other
– Transferability
– Spatial organization of
activity is continually
changing
– Time-space
convergence
Figure 1.19 The effects of changing
transportation technologies, “shrinking”
the world
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

20. Spatial Analysis, (cont’d)
• Spatial Interaction • Spatial Diffusion
– Intervening – The way things spread
Opportunities through space and
determine the volume over time
and pattern of – Expansion diffusion
movement and flows – Hierarchical diffusion
Apply your knowledge: Referring to spatial analysis concepts, discuss a
national or international environmental issue. Relate complementarity,
transferability, intervening opportunities, and diffusion.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

21. Regional Analysis
• Regionalization
– Functional regions
– Regionalism
– Sectionalism
– Irredentism
Figure 1.21 The Mormon cultural region
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

22. Regional Analysis, (cont’d)
• Landscape
– Ordinary and Symbolic
– Many layers of meaning
Figure 1.22 Landscapes can be symbolic of
national identity as this landscape in Tuscany
has for Italy
Figure 1.24 Picturesque landscape in England
emblematic of the nation even though much
change has occurred
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

23. Regional Analysis, (cont’d)
• Sense of Place
– Insiders and lifeworld
– Intersubjectivity
Figure 1.25 Routine encounters in
Italy help develop a sense of community
Figure 1.26 Community art helps create a sense
of place in San Francisco
Apply your knowledge: What are the most distinctive characteristics of
your region? Describe the landscape and the sense of place.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

24. Geographical Imagination
• Allows us to understand geographic change
• Places and regions represent the cumulative
legacy of successive periods of change
– General effects and unique outcomes
Figure 1.27 This German town was once a
prosperous regional center, but now is
isolated and economically disadvantaged
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

25. Geographical Imagination, (cont’d)
Figure 1.D South Beach, Miami embodies Figure 1.E “SoFi” was redeveloped with
the layered legacy of successive waves of exclusive, resortlike condominium towers
development and change. Art Deco and became a playground for the young
architecture reflects the past. and affluent.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

26. Future Geographies
Figure 1.28 The consequences of the unprecedented
shift of relative wealth and economic power from West to
East are highly uncertain.
Apply your knowledge: What are the likely future changes to the
geography of your region?
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.

27. End of Chapter 1
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.