The “Why of Where” - an Introduction to
Human Geography
Developing a Spatial Perspective
“…historians look at the world
temporally or chronologically;
economists and political scientists
look at it structurally, but we
geographers look at it spatially.”
-Harm de Blji, Why Geography
Matters More Than Ever, 2012
Why do you think that there is often such chaos and
congestion at self-serve gas stations?
Describe
• Where is this store located?
• What does it tell you about this neigborhood?
The Spatial Perspective
• Focuses on where something occurs
• Key geographic questions:
– Where is it?
– Why is it there?
• Examines how human activities are
organized in space and how they relate
to the natural environment
Developing a
Spatial Perspective
“Association Among Phenomena in Places….”
Or…why things are where they are, and how they relate
to other things…
• Discussion (Spatial Perspective)
1. Why do you think most pizza places have Chinese take-out
places in the same area?
2. Why are certain shopping malls located on bus routes, while
others are not?
3. Living in New Jersey, why won’t we see many presidential
campaign ads?
4. Why were many Chinese baby girls adopted by American
(and typically white) families?
Spatial perspective
• Whole Foods in New Jersey
• Starbucks vs. Dunkin in NJ
Yali’s Question
• What’s the answer?
• How can it be answered from a spatial
perspective?
Basic Geographic
Terms
Two Types of Geography
Physical Geography:
• Where and why natural forces
occur as they do
– climates, landforms, types of
vegetation, etc.
• Focus on environmental dynamics
Human Geography:
• Where and why human activities
are located where they are
– religions, cities, businesses,
governments, etc.
• Focus on social dynamics
Space
– The physical gap or
interval between
two objects
– Spatial distribution
• How people,
things, and
activities are laid
out, organized, and
arranged on earth
Do Now
• Our density has been reduced from 29
to 26 (as of today).
• What effect does that have on our
dispersion/concentration?
3 Main Properties of Spatial Distribution
• Density
– How often something occurs in a given
space
• Dispersion / concentration
– How spread out something is
• Concentrated/clustered = close together
• Dispersed/scattered = spread out
• Pattern
– Design
Density-In A we see 6 houses on 1 acre of land. And in B we see 12 houses per
acre
Concentration-in A we see the houses dispersed and in B we see them clustered.
Pattern-in A the houses are in a single linear arrangement, in B the arrangement is
irregular.
Types of Pattern:
(a) Linear Patterns
typically depict
houses along a street
or towns along a
railroad
(b) Centralized
Patterns typically
involve items
concentrated around
a single node. Ex:
Center City with
surrounding suburbs
(c) Random
Pattern An
unstructured,
irregular
distribution
The changing distribution of North American
baseball teams illustrates the difference between
density and concentration.
The Five Themes of Geography
THE FIVE THEMES OF
GEOGRAPHY
•
•
•
•
•
Location
Place
Human-Environment Interaction
Movement
Regions
LOCATION
Where is it?
• Absolute Location
– A latitude and longitude
(global location) or a
street address (local
location).
– Paris France is 48o North
Latitude and 2o East
Longitude.
– The White House is
located at 1600
Pennsylvania Ave.
• Relative Location
– Described by landmarks,
time, direction or
distance. From one place
to another.
– Go 1 mile west on main
street and turn left for 1
block.
PLACE
What is it like there?
• Human Characteristics • Physical
• What are the main
languages, customs, and
beliefs.
• How many people live,
work, and visit a place.
Characteristics
• Landforms (mountains,
rivers, etc.), climate,
vegetation, wildlife, soil,
etc.
What’s the difference between
place and space?
• A place is a point
• A space is an area
– Usually demarcated in some way
HUMAN-ENVIRONMENT
INTERACTION
How do humans and the environment affect
each other?
– We depend on it
• People depend on the Tennessee River for water and
transportation
– We modify it
• People modify our environment by
heating and cooling buildings for comfort
– We adapt to it
• We adapt to the environment by wearing
clothing suitable for summer (shorts) and
winter (coats), rain and shine
MOVEMENT
How are people, goods, ideas moved from place to
place?
– Human Movement
• Trucks, Trains, Planes
– Information Movement
• Phones, computer (email), mail
– Idea Movement
• How do fads move from place to place?
TV, Radio, Magazines
MOVEMENT
• Spatial interaction = interconnectedness of
places
• Depends on:
– Distance
– Accessibility
– Connectivity
REGIONS
What do locations have in common?
• A way of subdividing space into categorizable
geographic units
• 3 types of regions: formal, functional, perceptual
Remembering the 5 themes
• If you can’t remembering what they
are just ask MR. HELP!
• M – Movement
• R – Regions
• HE – Human Environment interaction
• L – Location
• P - Place
Landscape
• How physical, human, and symbolic elements
come together in a place
– Theme of place
• Human activity changes natural landscapes into
cultural landscapes
– Theme of human-environment interaction
• Can provide visual cultural history
• Reflect identity
Philippine Rice Terraces