Changing Places

What Changing Places covers

Changing Places is examined in AS Unit 2, Changing Places. It covers what gives a place its character, flows and connections that shape places, meaning, perception and attachment to place, how places are represented, economic restructuring and the Clark Fisher model, deindustrialisation and social inequality, the service economy and its impacts, the knowledge economy and clusters, rebranding rural places, managing change in rural places, rebranding urban places, managing change in urban places, comparing a home place with a contrasting place and how place change affects people's lives.

The 14 subtopics

Each one has its own page. WJEC AS Geography students sit this topic in the first year.

• What gives a place its characterPlace in human geography, three groups of characteristics used to describe a place and why two adjoining neighbourhoods can have very different characters.Open →
• Flows and connections that shape placesFour flows that shape the character of a place, shrinking world and how broadband connectivity has changed the character of rural places.Open →
• Meaning, perception and attachment to placeHow personal experience shapes the meaning of a place, sense of place and place attachment.Open →
• How places are representedRepresentation of a place, four media through which places are represented and place myth.Open →
• Economic restructuring and the Clark Fisher modelFour sectors of employment, employment in each of the primary and secondary sectors and three stages of the Clark Fisher model.Open →
• Deindustrialisation and social inequalityCycle of deprivation, social exclusion and one environmental benefit of the loss of heavy industry.Open →
• The service economy and its impactsTertiary sector, two demographic drivers of change in retailing and two economic drivers of change in retailing.Open →
• The knowledge economy and clustersKnowledge economy, cluster in economic geography and why proximity to a university encourages a cluster to grow.Open →
• Rebranding rural placesPost-productive countryside, rural diversification and four routes by which rural places are rebranded.Open →
• Managing change in rural placesWhy rural housing is often unaffordable for local people, effect of second-home ownership on a small coastal village and two policy responses to second-home ownership in Wales.Open →
• Rebranding urban placesFour flagship approaches used to regenerate urban places, flagship development and how a stadium can act as a regeneration catalyst.Open →
• Managing change in urban placesWhy regeneration creates conflicting perceptions, urban overheating in the context of regeneration and long-term effect of home working on a city centre economy.Open →
• Comparing a home place with a contrasting placeFour sources of quantitative data for comparing two places, four sources of qualitative data for comparing two places and why comparing two places at different scales produces misleading conclusions.Open →
• How place change affects people's livesRecall questions on what economic change does to work, housing and travel, the loss of a village school or local shop, reputation and prospects, lived experience, and why the same change is felt unevenly.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Changing Places further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Re-imaging vs Regeneration

  Re-imaging: changing how somewhere is perceived, through marketing, events and publicity. Regeneration: changing the fabric and economy of somewhere, through building and investment.

• Gentrification vs Re-urbanisation

  Gentrification: the movement of wealthier residents into a lower-income inner urban neighbourhood, raising property values there. Re-urbanisation: the net movement of population back into inner city areas after a period of decline.

• Counter-urbanisation vs Suburbanisation

  Counter-urbanisation: the movement of people out of cities to live in villages and the open countryside. Suburbanisation: the movement of people from the centre to the edge of the same continuous built-up area.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Define place in human geography.

   Model answer

   A place is a portion of geographic space to which people have given meaning, so it is more than a location on a map.

2. 2

   Distinguish space from place.

   Model answer

   Space is an area defined by its coordinates and dimensions, while place is that area once people have attached meaning, memory and identity to it.

3. 3

   Name the three groups of characteristics used to describe a place.

   Model answer

   Demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics.

4. 4

   Give three demographic characteristics of a place.

   Model answer

   Its total population, its age structure and its ethnic composition, with household size and rates of migration also relevant.

5. 5

   Give three socio-economic characteristics of a place.

   Model answer

   The occupational structure of its residents, their income levels, and rates of unemployment and deprivation.

6. 6

   Give three cultural characteristics of a place.

   Model answer

   The languages spoken, religious affiliation, and local traditions such as festivals, food and sport.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Changing Places revision questions

Is Changing Places examined at AS in WJEC Geography?

Yes. It sits in AS Unit 2, which you take in the first year, so it is on the AS paper as well as counting towards the full A level.

What does Changing Places cover in WJEC AS-Level Geography?

14 subtopics: what gives a place its character, flows and connections that shape places, meaning, perception and attachment to place, how places are represented, economic restructuring and the clark fisher model, deindustrialisation and social inequality, the service economy and its impacts, the knowledge economy and clusters, rebranding rural places, managing change in rural places, rebranding urban places, managing change in urban places, comparing a home place with a contrasting place and how place change affects people's lives. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Changing Places organised?

By the WJEC 601-8455-3 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.