Why are different places
similar?
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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
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Most economic activities undertaken in one region
are influenced by decision makers located
elsewhere
 Crops, factories etc.
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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.
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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
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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 1993.
'No sense‘ For a kilo of onion, imported from Germany, I'm paying
the equivalent of a bottle of good whisky
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McDonalds feeds 62 million
ppl/day
◦ 75 hamburgers every second
$32 billion revenue makes it
68th 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
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Why are people, objects and activities
distributed the way that they are
When & Why vs. Where & Why
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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.
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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
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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,
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Use of Facebook
Plastic Surgery
High Fashion
Spread of English language
Skateboards
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Reduction in time it takes for something to reach
another place. 