Regionalisation

From Geography

Revision as of 08:13, 16 October 2012

Regionalization

Regionalization is understood as an academic practice of spatial delimitation of natural, social, economical, cultural or political spheres of reality. In an action-centered perspective it is understood as everyday practice, not for delimitating the ‘world’ spatially, but for using special references for the economical, political and cultural structuring of social realities. A Region is the outcome of these delimitations of space. Regions are not a pre-given fact, it is that what humans make of it. And they are helpful for human beings to make sense of the world around them. This notion is developed by Anthony Giddens in his theory of structuration.

Modes of regionalization

Modes of regionalization

Giddens develop the “modes of regionalization” to deal with social organisations of time and space. He offers a fourfold way of classifiying regionalisation. Regionalization can be differentiated according to type, length of time and character. The "form" of regionalization refers to the type of borders that define the region. These borders can be indicated by physical or symbolic markers. For example a wall is a physical border between two rooms. This has social implications, to stay with the room example: you do not sleep in the kitchen but on the other side of the border (wall) in the bedroom. The length component refers to“span” – the degree of space over which they expand(Craib, 1992, p.40). The time component refers to the "duration" of time a region exists. If a region has a bigger duration of time (and also of space) an higher degree of institionalization is necessary for social maintenance. The "character" of regionalization refers to the modes in which the time-space organization of locales is structured within a social system (Werlen, 2009). A mode is an overarching spatial organizing principle which organizes a social system. The organization principle can be for example a functional division between workplaces and living spaces.

References

• Aitken, S. and Valentine, G. Approaches to Human Geography. 2009.

• Craib, I. (1992). Anthony Giddens. Routledge, London

• Werlen, B. (2009). Structurationist Geography. Elsevier.

Contributors

• Published by Thijs Koolhof (4048385)
• Enhanced and links added by --SusanVerbeij 08:40, 5 October 2011 (UTC)
• Page enhanced by JensLubben 21:46, 17 December 2011 (CET)
• Page enhanced by LiekeVogels 10:13, 16 October 2012