UNIT 1 LESSON GLOBALIZATION
THE STUDENT WILL BE ABLE TO…
 Discuss elements of spatial relationships, diffusion, and globalization
WE ALREADY TALKED ABOUT…
Space, points, distance, accessibility, connectivity, and
diffusion.
Don’t forget about Tobler’s law…
Diffusion is when an idea or trait spreads from a hearth
Accessibility is how easy or difficult it is to overcome friction of
distance.
Connectivity is broader and is all the tangible and intangible
ways plays are connected.
GLOBALIZATION
 Globalization is actually a characteristic of diffusion and it’s reach.
(Hint, it’s global diffusion).
 Everyone in business LOVES the term globalization!
 …but not everyone really knows what it means.
 …businesses like it because it means bigger markets and more money.
 It’s also not always positive, but we’ll discuss that later in the year.
 Globalization: “The increasing interconnectedness of different parts of
the world through common process of economic, environmental,
political, and cultural change” (Knox & Marston, 2015).
 It’s actually been happening a long time. think trade by ships
 It’s just now faster and easier (time-space compression).
Z
The triangle trade is actually a form
of globalization. Ships were used to
move goods and it would take a few
weeks or months to get goods to
different ports.
Europe manufactured the goods
using the raw materials it took from
elsewhere; manufacturing (or
changing to a finished product) is
where the most money is made.
Globalization means that this trade and sale is much larger. It’s called a
commodity chain, “a network of labor and production process that originate in the
extraction or production of raw materials and whose end results is the delivery
and consumption of a finished commodity” (Knox & Marston, 2014, p. 50).
GLOBALIZATION & SCALE
Geography cares about globalization for a number of reasons
 It’s about connectivity and accessibility
 It also creates a region (albeit a big one on a large scale)
Regions are “spatial summaries designed to bring order to the
infinite diversity of the earth’s surface” (Getis, 2013, p. 13).
Regions are also “a way of subdividing space into categorizable
geographic units” (Malinowski & Kaplan, 2013, p. 16).
Regions are kind of like “periods” or “eras” in history; a way of
slicing up time and looking at it together.
QUICK REGION REFRESHER
Regions have boundaries (albeit, they are sometimes blurry, or
fade out and aren’t always clear). This boundary distinguishes
it from other places.
Formal Regions: “places that have one or more characteristics
in common” (Malinowski & Kaplan, 2013, p. 16).
 Wow…that’s kind of everything, isn’t it?
 The boundaries will change based on scale.
 However, a uniform measure is applied to the region.
 Also, a criteria is important
THE FORMAL REGIONS BEING DISPLAYED ARE STILL COUNTRIES;
THIS MAP IS SHOWING GROSS NATIONAL INCOME PER CAPITA.
In this case, the
formal regions
are actually
states, but we’ve
changed the
scale to show
income per
state…the image
changes.
FUNCTIONAL REGIONS
 Functional regions: places that
interact.
 The places have some type of
relationship with one another.
 This is actually the best area to put
globalization in, on a large scale
functional region.
 Reading had t.v. station, example
as wifi, but depending on how you
describe the interaction; it can be
a lot of things.
Map of federal reserve banks; they’re over
their specific area and interact with all banks in
that region assigned to them.
VERNACULAR REGION
 Vernacular region: “regions that people construct in their mind and may be very
difficult to dissect” (Malinowski and Kaplan, 2015, p. 19). ( this means it’s not always
about language)
 This is going to be the most abstract region; hard to define.
 Formal and functional have criteria to define them; formal regions have government
lines, or a criteria laid out by a person and formal regions have interaction. Vernacular
regions have…feelings associated with them or state of mind.
 The South: probably the most blatant example of a vernacular region.
 Where is the “south?”
 Hawaii is technically “the south”
 A lot of people don’t view anything west of the Mississippi River as “the south” (sorry Texas).