GEOG121: INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
TUTORIAL 1: SPACE, PLACE AND ENVIRONMENT
Quick Reminder
Before we begin, I want to emphasise the importance of the readings and
content presented in this tutorial. They have been carefully curated to lay a
foundation of knowledge that will be built upon in our class lectures.
It is essential that you take the time to thoroughly read through the material
and make notes before coming to class. The material presented in lectures is
not designed to be comprehensive on its own. Without a solid understanding
of the foundational concepts covered by the readings, it may be challenging
to keep up with the pace of the lectures.
To succeed in this course, you must come to each class session prepared,
complete the assigned readings and take notes. This will enable you to engage
with the material thoroughly, participate in discussions, and ask informed
questions.
Remember, the readings and content presented in this tutorial are a key
component of your learning journey. So please take them seriously, and try
to comprehend the material thoroughly. With hard work and dedication, you
will be well on your way to success in this course.
GEOG121: READING 1
INTRODUCTION TO SPACE, PLACE & ENVIRONMENT
Most people who have never studied geography at the university level struggle
to understand what geography is to a full extent. Mostly, people tend to
associate discipline with learning endlessly dull facts about the capital of
some country or the longest rivers. In reality, geography is far more important
and interesting in helping us understand the world around us. This is
because, unlike most academic disciplines that have a single or core concept
that defines it, the academic discipline of geography has several. Geography
has three core and secondary concepts that tend to define and shape it as a
discipline.
The subject matter of geography is the Earth’s surface, including the envelope
of the atmosphere immediately above it, the structures that lie directly below
it, and the social and cultural environments contributed by the people who
occupy it.
CORE CONCEPT 1: SPACE
Geography has always been involved in the analysis of space, and this
provides the first core concept. Geographical space comprises location, or
where we are on the Earth’s surface, in relation to geographical coordinates.
Absolute space refers to the physical aspects of space without considering
how people or societies influence it. It's like looking at space as a blank canvas
where natural things happen, such as landforms, climate, and ecosystems.
Geographers use this concept to understand an area's fundamental properties
and relationships, like distances and physical features.
Relative space in geography focuses on how people perceive and use space
based on their culture and society. It recognises that space is not the same
everywhere and varies depending on who uses it. Geographers study how
different things are connected in space and how these connections impact
society, economy, and culture. Relative space helps us understand that space
is not only about physical features but also interested in people's cultural
perspectives and behaviours. In contrast to absolute space, relative space is
subjective and based on a person's perception of the space. Relative space is
subject to continuous change and differences in interpretation. Central to this
understanding of relative space is the idea of perception. Geographers
recognise that people’s perceptions of their environment vary depending on
their knowledge and experience.
Relational space in geography means that space is created by how things,
people, and activities are connected. It's not just about physical locations but
also how we relate to others and the environment. We must look at how people
understand and use space to understand what's happening. This means
considering the economic, social, and political relationships that shape
patterns in space. In summary, relational space is about how relationships
form space and how people's actions and intentions influence it.
Henry Lefebvre & Space
It is important to note that much of our conception of space as geographers
has been influenced by the urban theorist Henry Lefebvre, who argued for the
existence of four different types of space.
Lefebvre’s spatial triad is a conceptual framework developed by the French
sociologist and philosopher Henri Lefebvre to explain how space is produced.
It proposes a threefold division of space to understand the complexities of
social space. The spatial triad consists of perceived, conceived, and lived
space, which all combine to create social space.
Perceived space refers to the subjective and individualised experience of
space. It involves how individuals perceive and interpret their surroundings
based on sensory experiences, emotions, and perspectives. Perceived space is
influenced by cultural, social, and personal factors, and it varies from person
to person.
Conceived space relates to the abstract and conceptual understanding of
space. It refers to the representations and plans individuals or groups create
to organise and structure space. Conceived space can include maps, urban
designs, architectural plans, and other forms of spatial representations. It
represents the intentional and planned aspects of space.
Lived space, also known as social space or representational space,
encompasses the social practices and everyday activities that occur within a
particular space. It emphasises the social interactions, routines, and
behaviours that shape and give meaning to space. Lived space is the space of
everyday life, where social relationships, power dynamics, and cultural
practices unfold.
According to Lefebvre, these three dimensions of space are interrelated and
mutually constitutive. They interact and influence each other, shaping the
overall social space in which we live. The spatial triad provides a framework
to analyse and understand the complex interplay between individuals'
perceptions, societal conceptions, and lived experiences within different
spaces.
CORE CONCEPT 2: PLACE
Place is, in short, a space that has meaning. It refers not only to a location
but also to the values or attachments that we associate with that location. We
all recognise that some locations are distinctive or more important to us than
others. Therefore, a place is defined as a location with a particular identity or
meaning attached to it, such as our home, neighbourhood, school, work, or
worship. Many (or all) of the Earth's locations qualify as places, as they are
essential or meaningful locations to someone. This subjectivity is critical to
understanding place; what is significant to one person may be insignificant to
another.
Place is a meaningful site that combines location, locale, sense of place, and
a combination of materiality, meaning, and practice.
The political geographer John Agnew (1987) outlined three fundamental
aspects of place as a 'meaningful location'.
Location refers to an absolute point in space with specific coordinates and
measurable distances from other locations. Location refers to the ‘where’ of
place.
Locale refers to the material setting for social relations – how a place looks.
Locale includes the buildings, streets, parks, and other visible and tangible
aspects of a place.
Sense of place refers to the more often unspoken meanings associated with
a place or the feelings and emotions a place evokes. These meanings can be
individual and based on personal biography, or they can be shared.
Materiality: Places have a material structure or materiality. New York has its
skyscrapers, Paris its boulevards, Los Angeles its freeways, and Sao Paulo its
shanties. Places are often recognised in terms of their material structures
which come to stand and be associated with a particular place.
Meaning: Locations or spaces became places when they became meaningful.
Meanings can be very personal and connected to individuals and their
biographies – places where we fell in love, where loved ones are buried, or
where we went to school. But meanings are also shared and, in some crucial
ways, social.
Practice: Finally, places are practised. People do things in place. What they
do, in part, is responsible for a place's meanings. Most obviously, places are
left with the imprint of notable events such as battles and signings of treaties.
Places are continuously enacted as people go about their everyday lives –
going to work, shopping, spending leisure time, and hanging out on street
corners. The sense we get of a place depends on practice and, particularly,
the reiteration of practice regularly. Space becomes a place when it is used
and lived. Experience is at the heart of what place means.
 It is also here in the realm of practice that Lefebvre’s spatial triad can
be easily viewed.
Materiality, meaning, and practice are all linked. The material topography of
a place is made by people doing things according to the meanings they might
wish a place to evoke.
The geographer Doreen Massey (1944-2016) famously noted how we think
about space and place matters. It profoundly affects our understanding of the
world, our attitudes to others, and even our politics. Moreover, we need to
think of space and place not as static over time but as something always in a
state of change or production. This is because people lie at the centre of
creating space and place; at any one time, a specific space or location can
have multiple meanings.
CORE CONCEPT 3: ENVIRONMENT
Within the discipline of geography, the concept of the environment refers
specifically to our immediate surroundings, including living and non-living
components. The term can refer to the social, natural, or built environment
surrounding us.
Geographers study the environment because it is known to have a
considerable impact on people's decisions and overall patterns of behaviour.
Aside from influencing key location patterns (or where people are), the social
environment can also more directly influence people's behaviour. For
example, think about how you might behave if you went to FNB stadium with
all of your friends to watch Bafana Bafana play in Johannesburg. What would
you wear? How would you act? (Would you celebrate? Would you drink?
Would you party if they won?). Keep that picture in your mind, and then ask
yourself the following question: How would you dress and act if you went to
church the next day after getting home from your trip? Would you dress the
same way? Would you behave like you did with your friends when watching
the football? The answer is probably not. This brings us back to the original
point that your environment or immediate surroundings can influence how
you behave, which is why geographers and human geographers, mainly, are
interested in studying the environment.
Types of Environments
Two main types of environments can be considered.
1. Physical Environment
2. Man-made Environments
The Physical Environment consists of all components provided by nature
and hence can be called the natural environment. It is also referred to as the
physical environment as it pertains to the physical requirements of life. These
physical or geographic conditions are not dependent on the existence of
humans. Sometimes, humans have no control over the physical conditions of
the environment.
Such views of the environment can also include naturally existing resources
within the Earth's surface, such as mountains, plains, water, deserts, storms,
or climatic factors. It can also refer to biological situations, such as the
complexities associated with plants and animals.
Man-Made Environments refer to the inhabited spaces created by man.
Some people may also refer to it as a social-cultural environment.
Man-Made Environments can further be divided into two types.
1. Inner Environment
2. Outer Environment
The Inner Man-Made Environments refer specifically to the social
environment, which exists as long as a particular society exists. It pertains to
the regulations, traditions, organisations, and institutions that man has had
a hand in establishing. It involves customs and folkways, which is existent in
every human group. It is addressed with names such as non-material culture,
social heritage etc. This heritage is essential for the social life of humans to
flourish; it is known to influence an individual's life.
The Outer Man-Made Environment refers to how humans frequently alter
their environment, whether cutting down trees, laying rode, establishing
dams holding water, building cities, or clearing natural vegetation to produce
crops. Humans actively alter their natural environment to produce one that
is increasingly man-made. This outer environment is a result of these
modifications.
It is also important to note that while we may distinguish between inner and
outer environments for research and our understanding, both Inner and
Outer Man-Made environments are highly integrated and inseparable in many
ways.
SECONDARY CONCEPT 1: SCALE
Geographers study phenomena from various perspectives, from local smallscale views of geographic issues to how different issues might look globally.
Geographic scale, or spatial scale, is a term which refers explicitly to the
relationship between the area of the Earth being studied when compared to
the area of the Earth as a whole.
A global scale means that the studied area closely approximates the entire
Earth. In contrast, a local scale means that the geographer focuses on only a
tiny proportion of the Earth, such as a country, city, neighbourhood, or more
minor feature.
Of course, there are many variants between these two extreme perspectives,
which include continental, national, and regional scales. Examining a
phenomenon like population migration using a global perspective or scale is
vital, as it may involve people moving from North Africa or the Middle East to
Europe or North America. Similarly, issues of climate change, globalisation,
or geopolitics are others that may be best assessed at a global scale.
Conversely, neighbourhood change issues due to gentrification or changes in
local political boundaries would best be examined using a local scale.
SECONDARY CONCEPT 2: TIME
Time is a significant component of geography, allowing us to add questions
like 'when' while studying different phenomena. If, in physical geography, we
were studying a hurricane, we might ask important questions like when did
this particular weather phenomena begin to form? Or how long did it take for
a particular storm to reach a landmass and destroy people's homes and
property? If we were human geographers studying the same phenomenon, it
would allow us to ask how much warning people had before the storm hit.
How long did it take for people to recover afterwards?
In such regards, the secondary concept of time adds valuable input to core
concepts like space, place and environment.
SECONDARY CONCEPT 3: PROCESS
A process is a series of undertakings, actions or steps taken to achieve a
particular end. In the physical sciences, a process might refer to a natural
phenomenon or mechanism, such as the process of photosynthesis, the
process of erosion, or the process of nuclear fission. In the social sciences, a
process might refer to the unfolding of events or changes within society, such
as the process of socialisation, the decision-making process, or the process of
economic development. In geography, the process often allows us to
understand better the series of actions or events that took place and led to a
particular outcome in space (where something happened and how it happened
over time).
It's important to note that processes are not simply one-off events; they
suggest an ongoing sequence or cycle of events that may be repetitive.
Processes can often be modelled or represented graphically to help illustrate
the steps involved and the relationships between them.
OTHER IMPORTANT CONCEPTS
REGIONS
A region is an area of the Earth's surface defined by distinctive characteristics,
which can be cultural (human), physical, or a combination of both. Latin
America is an example of a region defined on a cultural basis due to its
colonial history and the prevalence of Spanish and Portuguese languages.
KwaZulu Natal’s South Coast is an example of a region defined by its physical
characteristics, such as a moderate climate and proximity to the sea, which
is very different to a region like the Highveld, which has completely different
physical characteristics.
Regionalisation is the process of dividing large areas into smaller regions.
Regionalisation involves making generalised statements to categorise and
subdivide a more extensive area into distinct parts based on physical
geography and cultural characteristics.
Different interpretations of
conceptualisations of regions.
regionalisation
can
lead
to
different
There are three main types of regions.
1. Formal regions: Shared common characteristics, such as language,
economic activities, or climatic conditions. Examples include political
jurisdictions like countries or cultural regions like Latin America.
2. Functional (or nodal) regions are organised around a central focal
point or node, and the defining characteristics diminish in importance
as one moves further from that central point. Examples include delivery
areas of pizza shops or catchment areas of schools.
3. Vernacular (or perceptual) regions: Cultural identity and individual
sense of place define these regions. They are subjective and based on
people's perceptions and cultural associations. Examples include the
American South's religious, political, and cultural characteristics.
LANDSCAPE
Landscape refers to the visible characteristics or appearance of a region. It
includes natural (physical) landscapes and cultural landscapes created by
human modifications of the environment, such as agricultural or urban
landscapes. Cultural landscapes vary across different regions and cultural
groups, reflecting their distinct ways of modifying and using the land.
The ability to "read" the landscape is a crucial skill practised by Geographers.
In essence, geographers might argue that all landscapes (the human and
physical environment all around you) can be read, somewhat like one reads
the text in a book. All landscapes are telling a story or stories; the challenge
for us is learning to focus on and read them.
Example 1: You have probably, at some point, found yourself driving in a
dangerous neighbourhood. Of course, there are no road signs at the borders
of a high crime neighbourhood warning, "Caution – Now Entering Dangerous
Neighbourhood". Still, you know to be cautious. Why? Because- you have
developed some skill in reading the landscape over the years without even
realising it. Rubbish on the street, graffiti, bars on windows and unkempt
lawns are common landscape markers (visual cues) of a neighbourhood that
suffers from crime; your sense of self-preservation has prompted you to learn
to interpret landscape symbols associated with danger. Many police and
"street smart" people have a well-developed sense of reading the landscape.
HUMAN GEOGRAPHY
To fully understand human geography, explaining its sibling, physical
geography, and the symbiotic relationship between these two disciplines is
helpful. If you keep the aspects of space and time intact and replace human
activity with the world's physical systems, you have a definition of physical
geography. Physical geographers observe the effects of Earth's physical
processes, such as hurricanes or El Nino, over space and time. Just as human
geography contains many sub-disciplines (e.g., population, political, and
economic), so does physical geography. (Its sub-disciplines include
geomorphology, climatology, meteorology, etc.)
Although human and physical geography are distinct fields of study, the two
fields sometimes overlap. For example, suppose we are studying drought in
Africa. First, we could approach the drought from a meteorological or
climatological perspective, complementing how the weather patterns or
climate contributed to the drought. Additionally, a human geographer could
inquire about the drought's implications for population growth, migration,
food supplies, the development of the region, or some combination of these
items. Thus, the branches of geography are distinct, but they are also
interrelated in many ways.
Human geography is a branch centred on studying people, places, spatial
variation in human activities, and the relationship between people and the
environment.
Human geographers study people and places. Human geography focuses on
how people make places, how we organise space and society, how we interact
in places and across space, and how we make sense of others and ourselves
in our localities, regions, and the world. Human geography studies the spatial
distribution of humans and their activities on the surface of the Earth and
the processes that generate these distributions. People use geographic space
and interact with the environment when they grow crops, build homes, drive
cars, do jobs, raise children, practice religions, cast votes, and spend leisure
time. Geographers help us understand human life's evolving character and
organisation on the Earth's surface.
Human geography seeks to understand the world around us and, more
specifically, how humans interact with the environment and each other, build
homes, live in communities, vote, travel, and face challenges. Its overall
emphasis is on people and asking questions like where they are, what they
are like, how they interact over space, and what kinds of landscapes of human
use can be viewed.
REFERENCES
Fellmann, J. (1996). Human geography: Landscapes of human activity, WCB.
Timms, B. F. (2004). Geography G110: Introduction to Human Geography.
Matthews, J. A., & Herbert, D. T. (2008). Geography: A very short
introduction. OUP Oxford.
Kuby, M., Harner, J., & Gober, P. (2013). Human geography in action. John
Wiley & Sons.
Daniels, P., Bradshaw, M. J., Shaw, D., Sidaway, J., & Hall, T. (2016). An
introduction to human geography. Pearson education.
Norton, W., & Mercier, M. (2016). Human geography. OUP Catalogue.
Graves, S. (2018). Introduction to Human Geography: A Disciplinary
Approach. Lulu. com.
Holt-Jensen, A. (2018). Geography: history and concepts. Geography, 1-304.
Okuyucu, Ş. E., & Çoban, G. (2023). Experiencing the corona effect in the city
square through Lefebvre’s spatial dialectic: the case of Afyonkarahisar.
Applied Nanoscience, 13(5), 3321-3334.