Changing Spaces; Making Places

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Characteristics that make up the identity of a pla

  • There are several factors that make up the identity of a place on a local scale:
  • Physical geography
  • Demography
  • Socio-Economic
  • Cultural
  • Political
  • Built environments
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Toxeth, Liverpool Case Study

  • Natural Characteristics: Toxeth is situated on undulating land rising up from the banks of the River Mersey. A stream flows from the Northeast, dividing into two before discharging into the river. The Mersey flows quickly past Toxeth due to its channel narrowing before passing into Liverpool Bay, so there is little foreshore at Toxeth.
  • Past Characteristics - Saxons originally settled the settlement, it was featured in the doomsday book. It was taken over by King John and it became part of a large hunting area and was fenced off 300 years. Near the end of the 16th Century, the area's status changed and was opened up for farming and low-level trade. In the next century, small scale industry began to grow to make use of the Mersey to power things. As the industrial revolution caused massive change around the country Liverpool emerged as a major port with many associated industries.
  • Toxeth took on a more urbanized and industrial nature with businesses such as forges and copper works being established in 1772 as well as a ceramics factory later. As well as several flour mills and brewing companies to serve the growing population which had moved to the city to work in places like the aforementioned industries as well as the docks, shipyards and Scandinavian imported timber yards.
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Toxeth, Liverpool Case Study

  • Residential development went hand in hand with industrial growth. Certain parts of Toxteth was given an ambitious housing scheme with wider streets and large and substantial villas. It also provided an attractive greenfield prospect for property developers building properties form the increasing middle class who wanted to leave the congestion and polluted environment of the city for a rural life while being able to commute to the city center to work in managerial and service sector jobs.
  • The demands for space in Toxeth for housing and industry due to the fact much of the cheaper housing had been poorly constructed close to one another resulting in outbreaks of epidemics of cholera and typhoid usually in the more deprived terraced housing areas.
  • This and other factors like better public transport triggered a large exodus of middle-class people to the rapidly growing suburban areas on the greenfield sites just outside the town.
  • Overall over a period of about 150 years the town had gone from a small rural community to an inner city suburb in a large metropolitan area. This meant most original rural features had been replaced with built environments. This was a consequence of Toxeth becoming an inter/national port increasing connections and improving trade with the rest of the world.
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Toxeth, Liverpool Case Study

  • In the present day, Toxeth has a younger population than the average of the country with most of its populace aged between 16-64.
  • Due to its history with the port Toxeth has a high rate of diversity from migration due to housing and employability opportunities in the area attracting people like the Irish in the 19 the Century and people from parts of Asia, West Africa, and the Caribbean.
  • Socioeconomically Toxeth has quite a low proportion of owner-occupiers compared to the rest of England and on average a lower number of people per household. 73.5% of people rent in Toxteth with almost equal amounts privately and socially rent with slightly more renting from a private landlord.
  • Above double, the proportion has no access to a car or van compared to the rest of England.
  • 9.4% of people have seriously bad health compared to 5.6% in England while 27.2% of the 16+ populace has no formal qualifications compared to 22.5%.
  • The city is also quite diverse with many different ethnicities and religions being present resulting in many festivals occurring in the city. 
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Toxeth, Liverpool Case Study

  • Toxeth is part of the Riverside ward this is one of the thirty wards that make up the city of Liverpool each ward is represented by three councilors. They have powers and duties including such as education, children's services, regeneration, housing, and sustainability economically and environmentally.
  • Nationally, Toxeth is part of the Riverside constituency with a populace of 73,000 people.
  • Toxeth also have groups and associations who make their voices heard by bringing up issues about proposed planning and developments that may make an impact on a particular area or heritage.
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Toxeth, Liverpool Case Study

  • In Toxteth, several areas of buildings have been adapted and been built to fit ethnic and religious reasons due to the increasingly diverse migration policy.
  • The area has experienced a loss of jobs in the docks, manufacturing and other industries associated with importing goods like sugar refineries and flour mills.
  • Increased of containerization and the migration of docks further North has lead to a large decrease in jobs. The ensuing poverty was a major factor in the Toxteth riots that occurred in 1981.
  • The change in the economy towards the service industry had a less positive impact on Toxeth than other places and several attempts to remake Toxeth as a thriving place has taken place through organizations such as the Merseyside Development Corporation of the '80s set out to redevelop the dockland areas.
  • In 1988 a large art gallery the Tate Liverpool was opened and later in 2008 the city was announced as the European city of culture seemed to boost tertiary service employment through increased tourism. Some of the waterfront in the area has been declared a UNESCO world heritage site offering even more tourism and employment opportunities. In 2003 to support the growth and develop the knowledge economy in Liverpool a science park was opened.
  • Eu funding also played a big part in the regeneration of the area through its Structural and Investment Funds Strategy. This has manifested itself as expanding the cities low carbon sector with increased employment created through offshore wind farms the largest wind farm in Europe is in Liverpool Bay.
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Toxeth, Liverpool Case Study

  • In a survey of businesses in the whole of Liverpool, they highlighted the main issue as recruitment as many applicants lacked the required technical or job-specific skills to fulfill the job. Many of the residents do not yet possess the skills and qualifications which would allow them to access the service or knowledge economy of the city.
  • However, many are hoping to benefit from the ensuing multiplier effect increasing the inward investment around the city from inside and outside the country. However, this is not necessarily guaranteed to work as it will take sustained and long term local and regional efforts to bring about socio-economic change to Toxteth's place profile.
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How Do We Understand Place - Defining Place

  • A 'Space' is different from 'Place', space exists between places and lacks the mena9ing that places hold, for example, the road and surrounding area between two cities for many people may just be the way to travel between the two cities and therefore is a space that has no meaning whereas the cities may have meanings as they may where people live do recreational activities, were relatives live or they may be where something well known happened, for example New York is known for the 9/11 terrorist attacks as well as having Broadway whereas a place like London may be known as the political center of England do have meanings and therefore are both places. 
  • Alternatively, the roads between the two cities may be the workplace for highway workers and the surrounding may be other people live and do recreational activities and work, it is subjective and is different from person to person.
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How Do We Understand Place - Perception of Place

  • The way we experience the world around us is affected mainly by our perceptions of it and it is also true that our experiences of the world will affect our perceptions of it.
  • There are several factors that influence people perceptions few are not affected by peoples experiences and vice-versa, there are several, however.
  • Age - peoples perceptions change with increasing age, for example, a park to a five year provides a fun place where they can run around and use the play equipment etc.then as they get older the place changes in its function to a place where a young adult may go skateboard or meet friends to a place for parents to take their children and elderly person to feed the birds or walk their dog. An elderly person or parent may also perceive a park as a more dangerous place.
  • Gender - Traditioanally many places have been defined as 'male' or 'female' stereotypically places like the home was thought to be a female domain whereas make placves where seen as offices and factories. Recreationally sports was traditionally male and women were tended to be excluded from this and other places due to society being male-dominated in most ways this manifested itself in many ways like women not being employed in the civil service as well as being expected to resign if they got pregnant. Though this is less of an issue now things like fear can instead play a part, for example, a darkly lit alley or park may make some women avoid these areas based on fear whereas a man may not think twice about that issue, this is what is known as the geography of fear.
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How Do We Understand Place - Perception of Place

  • Sexuality - in the last century as LGBT groups have been given better rights and been more accepted in society certain 'zones' in cities where LGBT groups cluster together creating ' gay-friendly' areas where restaurants, bars, and clubs spring up geared to LGBT groups.
  • For example places like the Castro District in San Francisco and the Gay Village in Manchester as well as the South coast resort of Brighton is also known for being the LGBT capital of the UK, this has developed the area into being more cosmopolitan.
  • Some researchers have compared this clustering together to the emergence of 'Ghettos', this is where people with some kind of the same characteristic like ethnicity, religion or in this case sexuality cluster together for a sense of security and a place to allow them to be themselves, this idea of strength in numbers is well known in urban areas but usually in terms of ethnicity.
  • LGBT neighborhoods in mainly heterosexual areas allow them to express themselves and even win political power like in San Francisco where several councilors have been elected and gain influence over decision making 
  • There is also an economic aspect to LGBT areas, the 'Pink' pound, dollar, euro has been very important in some areas with the money being used to help rebrand and redevelop areas like Manchester, Brighton, and San Fransisco which has also benefited from LGBT tourism as people with similar characteristics will seek areas where they can feel safe and be themselves and enjoy personal geographies not restricted by fears and anxieties.
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How Do We Understand Place - Perception of Place

  • Religion - for millions of years people have given spiritual meaning to places, natural places like Uluru in Australia which is very significant in Aboriginal mythology whereas the Europeans that traveled their later completely disregarded these myths and named it Ayers Rock after the Premier of South Austalia (not an Aboriginal), nowadays more sensitivity is present towards the Aboriginal people has resulted in it becoming officially known as Uluru again.  
  • Buildings and cities also have spiritual meanings places like Stone Henge were originally a wooden structure built 5000 years ago which was then replaced by stone, this was a very important place for pagan religions that would have existed during the time of the Celts. Even earlier are cave paintings found at Lascaux in Southwest France, images of birds, animals, and people were drawn on the cave walls around 17,000 years ago and have been interpreted as having religious and spiritual significance.
  • Mainstream religions like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have been giving meanings to and areas through places like mosques, churches, synagogues, and temples. These religions have also fostered the rise in religious services and businesses such as shops to buy spiritual and religious items as well as Kosher foods. 
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How Do We Understand Place - Perception of Place

  • Role - Every person plays several roles at the same time during their lives, this changes our perceptions of various places over time as well as how people act and use these places.
  • Roles affect things like perceptions of fear and anxiety about certain places again changing how and why people use places.
  • It also influences the way organizations and governments behave for instances previously many certain kinds of people were not allowed to reside in certain areas or properties to limit their fear. Gated communities have also grown in number all over the world. These tend to feature high-value properties and are defended by some kind of boundaries and security and controlled access points.
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Influence of Emotional Attachment to Place

  • Many places have emotional ties for many people these may be bad or good depending on certain factors.
  • One of the main factors is memories, our memories tend to be highly selective, people will purposefully or not choose to forget certain things that occur. If we have strong positive or negative experiences we likely will have strong ties to a place or will not depending on the experiences had.
  • Memory is also affected by social factors such as being part of a group, for example, sports fans may have an emotional attachment to sports fans home ground.
  • Whereas a group of people may also have strong ties to nations and certain areas of land such as Kurdistan and West Bank in Isreali.
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Influence of Globalisation

  • Globalization is the processes of increased interconnectedness and interdependence of the world economically, socially and politically. These factors have massively influenced the way people perceive and understand places in different ways.
  • The phrase global village has been used to convey the idea that the world has become smaller and more integrated not in a physical sense but in terms of communications, travel, capital, the flow of goods becoming more reliable and frequent.
  • This influence of globalization is known as Time-Space Compression, this means space is no longer the barrier it was previously.
  • A good example of this is the fact nowadays much of our food in supermarkets is now imported and things that used to be subject to seasonal changes are now available all year like strawberries.
  • For many, this factor is a major positive with increased tourism and investment benefiting many in different countries. While others have seen the changes in a more negative light feeling not at home anymore.
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Ways of Representing Places

  • Another key factor that influences how people perceive place is how it is represented in the media.
  • Media influences can be divided into two categories: formal such as the census, any location agencies as well as distribution agencies. Usually, these agencies are linked to either governments or scientific based companies.
  • Informal influences include things like television, film, music, art etc.
  • Television and film, in particular, plays a massive role in creating and changing peoples perspectives at a place. The lens can capture both a wide-angled view of a place to display it in a geographical context as well as zooming in to specific details.
  • TV soaps also provide a kind of interesting insight into a certain place by looking into peoples fictional lives in these places building a strong fictional representation of a place that will change peoples perspective.
  • Films can also change perspectives by wither creating a fictional representation of a place or by showing certain locations used in films like New Zealand in the Lord of the Rings.
  • Not only visual media but things like books, newspapers, poems etc. also provide an image of certain places.
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Ways of Representing Places - Formal

  • Census - Census are large collections of data about the people who live in an area usually carried out by a places government, the UK held its first census in 1801 and from then is carried out 10 years continuing today. A census originally just simply carried out a population count, as the years continued it became more sophisticated eventually including personal data about people living in a household defined as one person living alone, or a group of people living at the same address. This data is used by hundreds of companies, government agencies, and other organizations in carrying out their programs and activities.
  • Representing Rural Places - Numerical data is usually used to present formal and objective representations of place. However, there is always some kind of subjectivity involved and bias, for example, when collecting spatial data, where to draw the boundaries should be drawn is a big issue, looking at a rural village surrounded by agricultural land may appear as a typical traditional settlement, when in actual fact it may be inhabited by people who do not work in the village or spend their leisure time there either or may not live there all year. People may also not consider themselves as rural dwellers. The traditional view is that rural areas possess several characteristics that separate themselves from urban areas:
  • A closely knit, supportive community
  • More conservative and traditional views,
  • More homogenous ethnically
  • Less mobility, both spatially and socially
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What and how do we measure social inequality.

  • Differences in age, ethnicity, gender, religion, wealth and education exist in all societies usually raising moral questions concerning inequalities. 
  • Due to differences varying from place to place, geographers can make significant contributions to debates around spatial inequality.
  • Terms like: the quality of life and standard of living are often used when discussing differences between places.
  • Quality of life - the extent to which peoples psychological, social and physical factors are met. This can be seen in how people are treated in different areas, the main questions are about whether people in different areas are treated with the same rights and receive the same equality as elsewhere. Does everyone have the same access to services like health care, education, and leisure? Are all their opinions heard and respected 
  • Standard of living - the ability to access vital services such as water, food, clothes, housing, and personal mobility.
  • Income and wealth are very if not the most important factors in determining both standards of living and quality of life. Higher incomes usually offer people better access to services usually of increased quality. But an increase in income does not necessarily mean an increase in quality of life due to longer hours at work, a longer commute, migration away from families to foreign countries. 
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What is social inequality?

  • Poor air quality and pollution are both examples of factors that can lead to higher income, wealth and standard of living while decreasing the quality of life, this shows that quality of life may be sacrificed for a higher income.
  • When social inequalities lead to large differences between groups this is known as deprivation mainly when the quality of life and standard of living are low.
  • Deprivation includes more than just poverty. Poverty is just not having enough money to support a decent standard of living. Deprivation refers to a general lack of resources and opportunities.
  • To measure deprivation the UK government uses an Index of Multiple Deprivation to assess relative levels of deprivation. Seven factors are combined to give an overall measure: income, employment, health, education, crime, access to housing and services as well as living environments such as air quality.
  • All the smallest scale LSOA census units in the census can be ranked according to their Index of Multiple Deprivation score.
  • This ranking allows the government to rank areas in England and Wales and compare levels of deprivation.
  • It is difficult to distinguish how deprived certain areas are as indices do not tell us by how much one place is more deprived than another. For example, a place with a score of 160 is not as half deprived as a place with an 80 score.
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Measuring Social Inequality

  • To measure social inequality, census data, is mainly used by organizations to measure draw conclusions about education, employment, and health care.
  • Income - At a global scale social inequality through income is measured through the definition given by the World Bank as US$1.25/day purchasing power purity. Below this level of income, a person cannot afford to purchase the minimum amount of food and no food essentials. The use of purchasing power is important because costs can vary massively from place to place.
  • Relative poverty is a useful measure as it relates to the amount of poverty to the distribution of income across the whole population. For the UK and most of the EU, the poverty level is around 60% of the median household income. Around 13 million people in the UK including 3.5 million children currently fall below this threshold.
  • The USA also has a poverty index based on a monetary value adjusted each year in accordance with inflation.
  • The Gini coefficient is a technique that can be used to measure levels of income inequality within countries. It is defined as a ratio with values between 0 and 1.0, the lower the value the more equal the distribution of income in a country.
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Measuring Social Inequality

  • Being able to afford accommodation at an adequate standard is closely related to income. At all scales, social inequality is evident in the type and quality of housing people occupy,
  • Tenure of housing is also an important indicator of social inequality. In many AC's there are many people who are owner-occupiers usually achieved through mortgages paid back over 25 - 30 years. Some people rent from private landlords or form the local authority. Charities and organizations also provide subsidized accommodation for rent by lower income households.
  • In many LIDC's housing tenures can be complex especially in slum areas, in these places there may be a complex but well-organized system of landlords and tenants and only some are squatter settlements where people reside illegally.
  • Formal education is provided by schools, universities, colleges, and apprenticeships. Whereas informal education can be gained by doing something in the home or workplace, for example learning to cook or watching another family member or friend doing something to learn. The acquisition of skill can be misrepresented if only formal education is measured particularly in LIDC's and EDC's.
  • Contrasts in literacy levels can be a good indication of inequality in education levels, it is measured by the ability to read and write at a basic level. Globally there are clearly different levels of literacy in terms of gender equality.
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Measuring Social Inequality

  • Access to health care and levels of ill health are good indicators of social inequalities, the association between poverty and bad health is very strong and reflects a number of influences.
  • These influences include variables such as the number of health care professionals, the number of doctors per 1000 people is used to describe health inequality between places at a global scale. 
  • In the UK more attention is being paid to health care, there is an informal postcode lottery in terms of the quality received in certain places from the NHS, this may be down to the handling by differing trusts and local authorities and governments.
  • Health is not just measured in things like medial provision, but also peoples access to clean water, effective sanitation, quality and quantity of diet, type of housing and air quality.
  • It is also a matter of social behavior and lifestyle such as attitudes towards vaccinations, tobacco, and alcohol.
  • HIV/AIDS has a serious impact in sub-Sharan Africa, this is partly down to attitudes towards male-female relationships and ignorance.
  • Whether a household is receiving regular income has a large impact on the standard of living and quality of life. Unemployment is one of the obvious ways to measure but not a great way to asses the standard of living or quality of life as defining what counts as employment can be difficult.
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Measuring Social Inequality

  • Someone may be receiving low wages despite being employed. In AC's it is generally understood that rural places have on average lower incomes than those in the city.
  • In LIDC's and EDC's most make their money working in the informal sector, this offers a relatively easy way into employment but has several drawbacks, for example, a person may work ten hours a day selling fruit and yet still may be unable to afford anywhere to live.
  • It is clear social inequalities and peoples life chances are closely related to where people live.
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Reasons for Spatial Patterns of Social Inequality.

  • Globally there are large differences in where social inequality is present, it is the interaction of several different factors interacting with each other.
  • The ability to purchase goods and services is fundamental to social well-being. Everywhere low income is present, poor mental health, low education and poor access to services occur.
  • The lack of formal education and mostly low skill workers provide massive obstacles to raising income and thereby reducing social inequality.
  • The cost of living is an important consideration when considering the role of wealth if a person income rises but the cost of living also rises then the person may end up of worse off. A key factor is disposable income.
  • Quality of housing is a big influence on social inequality, the smaller the income the less choice of housing a person has. Poorer quality housing and overcrowded conditions tend to cause ill health both mentally and physically. Inequalities like this tend to exist when demand exceeds supply.
  • In many LIDC's and some EDC's, millions of people have little choice but to live in slum housing. Often due to rapid urbanization, municipal authorities are simply overwhelmed by the scale of demand and lack of resources to increase the supply of decent housing.
  • Homelessness is a growing urban problem in many AC's. This group often exist on the fringes of society and may be reduced to squatting illegally in derelict or empty buildings.
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Reasons for Spatial Patterns of Social Inequality.

  • In AC's as well the affordability of housing contributes to social inequality when the cost of housing either purchasing or rent inflates quicker than wages and other prices, those with lower incomes and less disposable income can find themselves completely excluded from the housing market.
  • However, since the end of the war low-cost social housing has been provided for those that can not access the housing market, however, since the 80's due to a scheme allowing people to buy their council houses the availability of these has decreased dramatically. This is also a big cause of inequality in rural regions, the increase in second home ownership added to the migration of wealthy people into the villages and towns in the countryside has raised property prices beyond the reach of many young families, this is a form of gentrification.
  •  In all societies, there is a clear link between ill-health and deprivation. Things like poor housing, diet and unhealthy lifestyle due to lack of fresher/healthier food as well as the stress of day-to-day living in poverty all take a big toll mentally and physically on a person.
  • Access to healthcare as well plays a big role as often there are issues with the scale and distribution of healthcare are usually uneven. Within communities, some groups like elderly people have limited mobility also restricting their ability to reach GP's and other health care facilities, another issue for people in rural areas can be access to transport personnel and public.
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Reasons for Spatial Patterns of Social Inequality.

  • Access to education is seen as a major factor in maintaining inequalities. Achieving universal primary education was one of the Millennium Development Goals and most governments invest mainly in education to raise standards of living and quality of life. things like illiteracy and lack of math skills exclude people from accessing education and skills training and overall reducing employment opportunities. Accessing even the most basic education is severely limited in LIDC's.
  • Accessibility to services is a big factor in the quality of life and standard of living, it is a major disadvantage for people if they find it difficult to find and use services in a suitable fashion. At global scales there very obvious and significant differences between different societies the main factor affecting this is how developed a country is. An example of this is that the number of doctors per thousand people. In Norway an AC there are around 4 per person were in Brazil in EDC there are just under two and in Kenya, in LIDC there is well below one per person. This demonstrates the usual pattern of disparity that permeates at a global scale for most service just like education.
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Reasons for Spatial Patterns of Social Inequality.

  •  Nationally differences tend to be between urban and rural areas where more wealth and better access to services is present whereas in rural areas limited access can be an issue.
  • Overall access to services is affected by three overall factors:
  • Number of services
  • How easy it gets to the service (geographical distance, transport links quantity, etc.)
  • Socioeconomic like gender, age, and income.
  • There are several general differences between rural and urban areas in terms of access to services urban areas tend to have better access than in rural areas. However, completely trumping this is money with wealthy people having better access to services regardless of where they live. Whereas poorer people wherever they live and whatever stage of development the country is will have worse access to services overall.
  • Recently it has been showed that a big factor nowadays is access to the internet, a large disparity exists in both owning the hardware and the quality of connection to use the internet. As an example in the UK, there is a big divide between rural and urban areas in terms of broadband speeds and although most governments put in the effort to improve speeds these usually only benefit richer are areas and people while leaving other areas still lagging behind.
  • It is important to note that while the internet is a factor on the quality of life know, the use of technology to connect people to better ways of living in certain environments like Africa with the creation of improved solar panels and satellite technologies vastly outweighs the issues caused by broadband connection divides.
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Role of Globalisation in Economic Change.

  • Globalization has led to an increase of flows, ideas, capitals, goods, and services across the globe. This has led to economic change at all scales in big and small ways.
  • Geographers have identified TNC's and nation-states as the key players in global economies. Relationships between the two influence and affect billions of lives across the world, there are several consequences to this.
  • A major one is 'global shift'. This refers to the relocation of manufacturing on a global scale. 50 years ago production manufacturing was concentrated mainly in Western Europe and North America, while raw materials were imported from places like Zambia and Brazil which also had there own small manufacturing centers.
  • From the '80s the New International Division of Labour (NIDL) gathered pace. European, North America, and Japanese TNC's created labor-intensive factories in what were Newly Industrialising Countries (NICs) in East Asia and Latin America. Bulk handling and containerization massively lowered the cost and allowed for the location changes stated above.
  • With this economic restructuring came the loss of employment in the primary and secondary sectors as the advantages to having industry in AC's declined, instead they became post-industrial societies in which people work mainly in the tertiary and quaternary sectors.
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Positive Impacts of Economic Change AC's

  • AC's
  • Cheaper imports of all relatively labour intensive products can lead to a lowering in the cost of living and a buoyant retailing sector. 
  • Greater efficiency apparent in surviving outlets, this can release labour for higher productivity sectors.
  • Growth in LIDC's can lead to a bigger demand for exports from AC's
  • Promotion of labour flexibility, efficiency and greater worker mobility to areas with relative scarcities of labour.
  • Greater industrial efficiency will likely lead to new developments in technologies, growth in the industry, promotion of entrepreneurship, and attract foreign investment.
  • Loss of the manufacturing and mining industries provides improved environmental quality.
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Negative Impacts of Economic Change AC's

  • Rising job exports to markets with cheaper labour leads to inevitable job losses. Competition driven technological changes (using robots etc.) also add to this.
  • Job losses are often a result of unskilled workers
  • Big gaps develop between skilled and unskilled workers meaning extremely different experiences with.
  • Employment gains from new efficiencies will only occur if industrialized countries keep wage demands low.
  • Job losses are invariably concentrated in certain areas both geographically and industrially this can have a domino effect on an area which can lead to it becoming deprived and poor throughout the area and affecting not only those who were employed but via the negative multiplier effect business like food shops would also suffer.
  • Branch plants are particularly vulnerable in recessions and times of economic weakness a these will be the first to close.
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Positive Impacts of Economic Change in EDC's and L

  • Higher export-generated income promotes export-led growth, therefore, promoting investment in production and possibly creating a multiplier effect for the whole country.
  • Can trickle down to local areas with many new highly paid jobs.
  • Can reduce negative trade balances
  • Can lead to exposure to new technologies, improved skills and labor productivity employment growth in relatively labour intensive manufacturing spreads wealth, and does redress global justice.
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Negative Impacts of Economic Change in EDC's and L

  • Unlikely to decrease inequality as most jobs in urban areas where richer people tend to live anyway and may promote rural to urban migration.
  • May cause disruptive social impacts like setting up sweatshops, exploiting workers, acting environmentally irresponsibly.
  • Can lead to overdependence on a small economic base.
  • Can destabilize food supplies as land/workers are taken by industry
  • Health and safety issues due to tax legislation
  • Environmental issues associated with rapid urbanisation.
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Impacts of Structural Economic Change on People an

  • Economic restructuring leads to most mines and factories closing and a mass loss of job in AC's, this is known as deindustrialization. Some places which relied heavily on these industries were badly affected by deindustrialization.
  • Places like many port towns and places like Liverpool, etc. which were either known for primary industries like fishing and mining and/or secondary industries like manufacturing of products, ships and, other components were hit hard by these changes leading to poorer and depressed areas, this led to things like concentrations of ill-health in places like the inner cities a local council authority housing estates in some suburbs.
  • This change was partly due to the fact heavy industry skills were hard to transfer to tertiary and quaternary sectors without quite a lot of training, this added to the physical environment of deindustrialized regions were incredibly poor with a legacy of abandoned and derelict buildings featuring polluted and dirty waterways. Some of these places have now become rebranded and have been regenerated.
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Impacts of Structural Economic Change on People an

  • During the 70's and 80's there was a significant investment by foreign-owned TNC's in the EU and specifically, the UK.
  • Trading and employment grew and a positive multiplier effect was created as although the number of people in these enterprises was fewer than those they replaced the represented a wider opportunity for individuals and places.
  • Globalization has led to greater international opportunities. Firms have specialized in areas where they have a competitive advantage.
  • In manufacturing, this has often meant specialist high-tech industries, aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and biotechnology.
  • Highly skilled workers and cutting edge research, design, and development are required.
  • Some places have built on a preexisting reputation in some of these industries.
  • Other countries have developed this like Bangalore in Central India which has become a center for aerospace engineering and IT development.
  • In West Cumbria, a remote rural area, the largest concentration of high-tech employment in the nuclear industry in the EU is located at Sellafield.
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Birmingham Research Park - Case Study

  • Birmingham Research Park - Originally Birmingham was a center for metalworking both refining and production of metal and products. The city faced issues during deindustrialization, but currently, there are several initiatives to provide job opportunities as part of a large restructuring of Birmingham to include a greater emphasis on the knowledge economy.
  • The ensuing research park built as part of this restructuring is a joint venture between the University of Birmingham and the City Council, it is designed to attract research-led companies wishing to work in partnership with acedemic, in particular, a BioHub has been developed and is at the heart of the Edgbaston Medical Quater, which includes the large Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the University's College of Medical and Dental Science.
  • The nature of firms developing innovative products means that good links are required with academic research.
  • Accommodation for new businesses needs to be flexible, for example, small-sized units that can expand are needed for start-up companies that will expand as the business grows.
  • Biotechnology also requires very specific laboratory conditions like sterile manufacturing environments 
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How Economic Ups and Downs Impact People and Place

  • The economic health of places is never static with many factors over time causing ups and downs in the economy both locally and on larger scales. 
  • These ups and downs have big effects on social opportunities and inequalities. Within countries places often experience these ups and downs in differing ways. This is mainly because different kinds of economic activities are not distributed evenly.
  • It has been theorized that Capitalist economic systems operate in a series of interconnected cycles.
  • The Russian economist Kondratieff concluded that roughly 50-year cycles of growth and decline have characterized the capitalist global economy since 1750.
  • These cycles of growth and stagnation have been linked to widespread technological innovations with the new industries providing the basis for a boom.
  • This can be seen in the original industrialization process in Victorian times where the increase in agricultural and manufacturing technologies, as well as things like steam engines and boats, resulted in massive booms for the economy as well as new growth markets an increase of factories and employment opportunities as well as a big growth in publicly traded companies and the London Stock Exchange.
  • Another one was the tech bubble that existed in the late 90's early 2000's a big increase in technology and the interest in it created hundreds of small start-up companies, these were incredibly overvalued and led toa very quick boom followed by a very large bust.
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How Economic Ups and Downs Impact People and Place

  • Technological development is rarely evenly spread with specialist centers and employees tending to benefit the most from the boom with a strong multiplier effect existing within the core of these centers which also explains the higher quality of living that exists there.
  • It is a big topic of debate why some areas can support long term technological innovation while others cannot
  • Explanations tend to come in the form of education, government and social organizations encouraging/discouraging enterprise and change.
  • Recessions are general slowdowns in economic activity, macroeconomic indicators like GDP, investment spending, household income, business profits, and inflation fall while bankruptcies and unemployment rise.
  • Some people can deal with a recession better than others, in general, those with better skills the more employment opportunities they are likely to have. 
  • Households tend to cut back on spending on non-essentials like leisure and entertainment
  • This will have a negative multiplier effect and will likely result in the loss of jobs and services like bars and restaurants, but recessions tend to affect those across the socioeconomic spectrum.
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Silicon Valley - Case Study

  • Silicon Valley is the term used for a region in California known for its technological innovation, enterprise and high standards of living it is situated around the Southern part of San Fransisco Bay.
  • Centered on Santa Clara Valley and the town of San Jose Silicon Valley is the home to some of the world's largest and wealthiest tech corporations and thousands of smaller start-up companies aiming to be as big as Google, Apple and Intel are. 
  • Stanford University has close links with much of the research being carried out by corporations and organizations in the area and regularly supply graduates.
  • An integral part of these start-up businesses getting up off the ground is the availability of Venture Capital to help fund these businesses. Nearly half of all venture capital in the US is spent in Silicon Valley and is home to the most millionaires and billionaires in relation to the population of the region. 
  • This massive growth in these industries has created a multiplier effect resulting in law firms specializing in patents and copyright law sprouting up offering even more opportunities.
  • However many of the lower skilled workers are not even paid the states minimum wage and many of these jobs involve exposure of toxic chemicals which pose a serious health risk, the majority of these are female immigrants from Asia and Latin America.
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The Role Governments play in the Disparity of Equl

  • Governments operate at differing geographical scales, there are transnational governments like the EU and UN, national governments like the UK Parliament and local bodies such as county, city, and parish councils.
  • In most countries, governments play the most important role in distributing, allocation and decision making of resources. 
  • Most governments are motivated by ideals of social Justice and political cohesion to reduce poverty and inequality.
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Case Study - UK Governments Measures for Tackling

  • Taxation - Income tax is used to redistribute wealth, the UK government, as well as others, use a progressive tax system where wealthier people pay more tax than poorer people. Some items will also be tax exempt which also benefits poorer people
  • Subsidies - Governments will also give subsidies to poorer groups, things like free school meals, clothing allowances and help with university fees are given to children in poorer households. Pensioners may also get subsidies for fuel and transport expenses.
  • Planning - Governments, charities, and housing agencies will often give priority to upgrading housing and services in the poorest areas and planning is usually organized geographically and targeted at the most deprived areas which may vary in scale from neighborhoods to entire regions
  • Law - Legislation exists to protect certain characteristics from discrimination to create more equal opportunities. Minimum wage legislation is also used to protect the poorest groups of workers.
  • Education - Government's will fund programs for training and upgrading skills in order to raise skill levels and qualifications, improve employment prospects and boost economic growth. Education aimed at improving health (obesity, smoking, etc.) is also often targeted at the poorest groups in society.
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Case Study - UK Governments Measures for Tackling

  • It is estimated that government spending in the UK will be £760 billion in 2016, this is split approximately three-quarters by the central government and one-quarter by the local government.
  • 20% is spent using Pensions - this has doubled in the last dozen years, this is reflective of the large increase in life expectancy and an ageing population. As a result, the age people can draw their pensions at is increasing steadily. Many of the poorest members of society count on their state pension although some are entitled to benefits and subsidies. There tends to be a disproportionate number of those living in the inner cities which contributes to the high levels of deprivation in these areas. It is very important to distinguish between these pensioners and the wealthy ones that have occupational pensions which provide an additional income to their state pension, many of these will also own their own homes (Thanks mainly to Margaret Thatcher) and benefited from house price inflation, which has increased their wealth as well.
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Case Study - UK Governments Measures for Tackling

  • 18% is spent on Health - In most countries, this is a combination of government and private organizations. In the UK the NHS is free at the point of delivery. People pay through for NHS through the taxation system. However, the effectiveness of the service depends on things like geographical location in rural areas it tends to be less effective and things like health workers and ambulances can be in high demand constantly. Language and culture can also play a role in limiting access to health care for immigrants, within some groups like South Asian and Somali have fears about immunization meaning many children have been left not unresistant to diseases like measles and whooping cough. Literature has been produced in many ethnic minority languages to inform parents of the benefits of vaccines and overall health care has improved. There is a hierarchy in the provision of health from GP to specialist units and as healthcare has become more technological it also has become more concentrated in fewer but larger facilities meaning less smaller local-based hospitals in rural areas meaning access is even more restricted.
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Case Study - UK Governments Measures for Tackling

  • 15% is spent Welfare 
  • 12% is spent on Education
  • 35% is remaining and is spent on things like transport, defense, and international development.
  • Rural Services - For quite a while an integral part of rural planning in the UK has been to support rural areas through the key settlement policy. Services like education, health care, employment, and housing have been more concentrated in large villages and small towns. These places act as hubs for people living in surrounding settlements, the idea behind this policy was that if a service is supported by a critical mass of people or threshold, then it would be sustainable. However, as improvements in personal mobility have taken place many rural residents no longer rely exclusively on their nearest key settlement, they often will combine trips for employment and shopping; as well as access a range of destinations such as the supermarkets and retail parks on the outskirts of urban places, this is helped by the extended opening hours as well as the increased availability of home delivery services by food retailers and supermarkets.
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The Contrasts Between Two Places in Social Inequal

  • Jakarta is the capital of Indonesia with 256 million inhabitants making it the 5th largest in the world, 10 million live within the capital city which as in many EDC's is a city of extremes. In the country, 10% of the population controls 30% of the household income while the poorest 10% have access to 3.4%. No official figures exist, but it is very likely income distribution follows the same pattern as all over the country.
  • Over a quarter of the inhabitants live in slums but many others live in areas which AC's would call slums or unsuitable housing. Jembatan Besi is a slum in Jakarta about 4 km northwest of the city. It has developed naturally over the past 40 years as Jakarta's population has grown. The settlement is hemmed in on all sides by other built-up areas as well as the Ciliwung River. It has a population of 4000 and is one of the most densely populated areas in Jakarta. The inhabitants include families that have resided there for several generations as well as migrant workers residing there for a few months.
  • The reason why people in slums is that the demand for housing greatly outweighs the supply and neither the Government or the private sector has the resources to cope with the increasing numbers of people wanting to live in Jakarta and the people also cannot afford the more expensive formal housing.
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The Contrasts Between Two Places in Social Inequal

  • Most people in the slum cannot make ends meet, the average income is about $4 US a day but for many, this is usually not a regular income, employment is often not secure with most people taking unskilled and casual labour. There is mostly self-employment with families running their own small businesses servicing other people in the slum or settlements around it, selling food or second-hand goods. These activities involve very little start-up capital and many more are run from home. Even jobs in the more formal areas have very little security, Jakarta has a significant garment district where there are also several small scale producers operating in the areas, in all of these there are little regulations and health and safety in these factories and for the employees.
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The Contrasts Between Two Places in Social Inequal

  • Most people in the slum cannot make ends meet, the average income is about $4 US a day but for many, this is usually not a regular income, employment is often not secure with most people taking unskilled and casual labour. There is mostly self-employment with families running their own small businesses servicing other people in the slum or settlements around it, selling food or second-hand goods. These activities involve very little start-up capital and many more are run from home. Even jobs in the more formal areas have very little security, Jakarta has a significant garment district where there are also several small scale producers operating in the areas, in all of these there are little regulations and health and safety in these factories and for the employees.
  • Health is also a major concern. Sanitation is non-existent in Jembaten Besi, few homes have a toilet and although there are toilets in the slum, they are poorly built and run for profit by local businesses, they also tend to flush out into the open sewers and the street. There is also not clean running water, groundwater supplies are available but polluted as the settlement is built on a former waste site, this means even if a family can afford a pump the water will be highly polluted this has caused epidemics of cholera and typhoid, the humid and tropical climates also mean that malaria is also a big issue as is hepatitis A, the young and old are also at risk of dehydration due to diarrhea caused by the poor hygiene.
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The Contrasts Between Two Places in Social Inequal

  • Air pollution is also at increased levels, the use for kerosene for cooking as well as high levels of emissions drifting over the city pose significant risks for residents. Nutrition is dominated by rice with little fresh protein, fruit or vegetables.
  • Schools are present but most are underequipped and too often families simply cannot allow their children to complete their formal education as they instead use them to earn supplementary income. For many young females, the garment industry is a major source of employment. 
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The Contrasts Between Two Places in Social Inequal

  • Jembatan Besi is one of the most densely populated areas in Indonesia, most homes are well made out of brick and timber, however, due to more recent developments in rural to urban migration extra stories have been added usually of poor quality and made of makeshift materials, fire and buildings collapsing are a constant risk in these areas as kerosene and improvised wiring features heavily in these areas as due to the height of buildings there is virtually no direct sunlight in these areas.
  • Slums like the ones in Jakarta are not likely to be disappearing in the near future. Authorities have planned to make inroads to the worst areas but proper planning is essentially non-existent in these slums and the Jakarta Housing and Administrative Buildings Agency have identified 392 'community units' that are due for improvement. This push for improvement has only meant migration from areas being cleared to other slum areas putting even more pressure in other areas. The areas surrounding the Ciliwung River are known for their very poor conditions and overcrowding.
  • However, there is a strong sense of community within the slums, most people are incredibly resilient and are simply looking to create a better future for their children by working together creating small  businesses and working in factories just to make ends meet, but the stark inequalities exist massively especially compared with those living in the center of the city who tend to have more wealth.
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The Contrasts Between Two Places in Social Inequal

  • Location etc.
  • Northwood is a community in the northern part of the City of Irvine in Orange County, California, it is specifically located on the southern edge of the Los Angles conurbation around 10km eat of Newport beach on the Pacific Ocean, east is the Santa Ana Mountains. 
  • Irvine was a planned city beginning in the '60s, built on the former Irvine Ranch.
  • It is a classic edge city
  • The city was developed around several smaller communities known as 'Villages' of which Northwood is one.
  • 22,000 people currently live in Northwood with around 8,200 households.
  • A third of the household have children at school age.
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The Contrasts Between Two Places in Social Inequal

  • Social and Economic Conditions
  • In general residents of Northwood are quite well off with the median income being around $86,500 a year compared to the national average of about $52,250.
  • One of the most important reasons for living in Northwood is access to employment in Irvine,
  • The University of California in Irvine is the cities single largest, employer and offers a large range of opportunities.
  • There are a number of well-established high-tech companies such as Blizzard Entertainment, Broadcom and several pharmaceutical and aerospace firms. Several TNC's have their USA headquarters in Irvine such as Kia Motors, Mazda Corporation, and Toshiba. The area is also home to many start-up companies.
  • Health care in the area is excellent even by AC's standards, air pollution is quite low as it is on the edge of the LA conurbation.
  • Schools are regularly assessed as some of the best in the US. There are 5 high schools and several tertiary education facilities, the educational standards of the residents of the area is quite high with many having first degrees and 20.5% possessing masters or doctorates.
  • The crime rate is 70% lower than the national average and is safer than 96% of the cities in California.
  • Violent crime incidents are around 50 per 100,000 compared to 366 nationally. Vehicle theft is at 52 per 100,00 compared to 220 nationally.
  • Ethnically around half are white with the second biggest group being Asians mainly from Vietnam, due to mass immigration from South Vietnam after the US lost the war there.
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The Contrasts Between Two Places in Social Inequal

  • Housing in Northwood is characterized by single-family houses on large plots of land known as 'lots'. 91 percent own their home and two-thirds of these have lived in Northwood for more than 10 years. The average size of a household is around 2.8. The streets are lined with greenery such as eucalyptus which is a legacy of the windbreaks established when the land was farmland.
  • Irvine is one of the highest ranked cities in the US for factors such as the aforementioned good planning, safety and in general being a good place to live. Even during downturns in the economy the area still retains its reputation for high paying employment.
  • The presence of the high-quality housing, transport infrastructure, education, retail and recreational facilities, and Mediterranean-style climate, as well as its easy access to beaches along the Pacific, Northwood and the region in general, presents the complete opposite end of the economic and social spectrum to Jembaten Besi.
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The players involved in driving economic change

  • Economic change is a complex and varied process that affects places at a variety of scales, from local and neighborhood to an entire country, at any scale change is caused by the interaction of a number of players and stakeholders.
  • Players are individuals, groups of people or formal organizations who can influence or be influenced by the process of change. some players have more 'power' or influence than others, especially in economic terms.
  • Public players are things like varying levels of government from national like our UK government to transnational to the EU and the UN which also influence economic change via grants for infrastructure development etc.
  • National governments are usually more comprehensive in effecting a country and society, they do this by having different departments for sectors such as education, benefits, and transport which are all in charge of a certain amount of the budget decided by the PM and Chancellor and give grants and develop policies to help create change.
  • Local governments have similar responsibilities as the national government just on a smaller scale.
  • Private players include a large number of other organizations and people such as businesses, TNC's, self-employed people and others from across all sectors of the economy, the main aim of these players is usually to generate money and to make a profit on their investment.
  • Local communities are mainly concerned about their immediate area, they are interested in economic change, such as employment, and also social and environmental matters, for example, the construction of new housing on the edge of a town or the redevelopment of a brownfield site.
  • A large number of non-government organizations exist which tend to have a particular focus, some are small local led groups while others cover the whole country, for example, the National Trust is a private organization with over a million members interested in the conversation of historic buildings and landscape.
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Case Study - Structural Economic Change in Birming

  • Birmingham is a large metropolitan region in the heart of the West Midlands conurbation.
  • In 2014 there were 1.1 million residents, making the second largest city after London.
  • In the early 1700s, various machines for processing cotton were invented in the region as well as electro-plating machines and the pneumatic tyre.
  • Boulton and Watt began their partnership in 1775 in Birmingham, this revolutionized the production of more efficient steam engines. The first medical x-ray was taken there in 1896. During WW2 pioneering work on the military radar took place. The majority of inventions receiving patents in the 19th and 20th century took place within 50km of the city center and even today 25% of British manufactured exports originate in Birmingham.
  • Birmingham's development 
  • The Birmingham known today is mainly the product of the industrial revolution, despite being mentioned in the Doomsday Book, it remained a poor agricultural community until a rich family purchase a royal charter to hold a market there in 1166, this allowed the area to grow a theme that continues today.
  • The Medieval Birmingham town consisted of several streets focused around a parish church and market, metalworking had already been established which would be a sign of things to come later, this was mainly situated in the Black Country, lay to the west in places like Dudley and Wolverhampton, these supplied the raw materials for Birmingham's metalworking industries.
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Case Study - Structural Economic Change in Birming

  • By the early 1700s, the population had expanded to 15,000, many inhabitants had migrated from a rural area in search of employment, this change in demographics lead to a growth in the middle class as well as service sector jobs such as banking and law practice, this created a clearly differentiated housing areas based on socioeconomic status. 
  • Matthew Boulton was a key player in the moving industrial base of the town. He was an entrepreneur and engineer, he established the first factory in the world in 1761 which brought 700 employees under one roof along with the complete industrial process.
  • The 19th century saw tremendous growth, The gun, jewelry, and other metalworking industries dominated, other industries provided the resource needed by the growing population in the area like food. The Cadbury family also set up their factory in Bournville as well as a model village that catered for the huge staff at the factory, all the development in industries also help prop up newer industries like law and banking that were also needed to sustain the new factories, etc. Transport infrastructure was created with Brimnghahm sitting in the center of the heart of the national canal network and the Midland Railway terminus was opened in 1838.
  • Birmingham grew during the first half of the twentieth century. New industries grew, like the Austin car plant, this facilitated several smaller industries that supplied the car industry. 
  • Dunlop was also found in Birmingham and the already established chemical industry extended into making Bakelite and added to the metalworking industry helped Birmingham get through the inter-war depression
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Case Study - Structural Economic Change in Birming

  • Economic growth was sustained in the first half of the 20th century
  • This also existed alongside a continued population increase from within the city and from rural immigration
  • Large terraced housing was built for workers
  • Most people lived within walking distance
  • An increase in middle-class jobs led to more urban transport development including trams, suburban railways, later buses, and cars.
  • The population demographics pre 1950s were mainly white with most jobs dominated by men and 60% were in skilled work. 
  • In the more suburban areas such as Northfield and Marston Green, housing was much nicer and included some of the largest local authority housing.
  • In the city center housing was much poorer and at a much higher density such as in Aston and Handsworth.
  • Here pollution was much higher and controls on emission where non existent
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