Introduction to Geography: Economic Geography

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Introduction to GeographyEconomic Geography

• Geography 1010
• 6-10 February 2006
• Ian MacLachlan
• http//people.uleth.ca/maclachlan/

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What is economic geography?

• Economic geography is the study of how people
  earn their living, how livelihood systems vary by
  area, and how economic activities are spatially
  interrelated and linked
• Getis, Getis and Fellman, p. 355
• Empirically based to understand what we see and
  measure in the real world
• Theoretically based generalization and modelling
  of processes and spatial diversity

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Economic Geography Week

• Its about Time!
• Geography of Prime Meridian and time zones
• Politics of Prime Meridian and time zones
• Telling time
• Regional Economic Structure
• Categories of Economic Activity
• Economic Sectors
• Regional Economic Development
• Micro scale
• Macro scale

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What was the key machine of the modern
industrial age?

• Watts steam engine
• Stevensons locomotive
• Jacquard loom
• Whitneys cotton gin
• Colt revolver interchangeable parts
• Ford Model T assembly line

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What was the key machine of the modern
industrial age?

• The clock, not the steam engine, is the key
  machine of the modern industrial age.
• Lewis Mumford Technics of Civilization

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World Scale Time Zone Map
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Solar Time

• Apparent local time
• Centred on solar noon
• Egyptians divide day and night
• into 12 equal parts
• Temporal hours unequal
• At Thebes, summer solstice, June 21
• Daytime temporal hour was 69 minutes
• Nighttime temporal hour was 51 minutes
• March 21 September 21 temporal equality
• Hipparchus 24 equal equinoctial hours c. 127
  BCE

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Solar Time

• Temporal hours until 15th century
• London
• Hour ranges from 38-82 minutes
• Mechanical clocks appear c. 1270 CE
• Apparent solar time varies from place to place
• Apparent length of solar day varies in length
  through the year
• Mean time introduced by nineteenth century
• Celestial adjustment to sun time
• Time balls

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Nelson's Monument on Edinburghs Calton Hill,
visible to ships on the Firth of Forth,
1852. Commemorates Admiral Lord Nelson's death at
the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
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Where should time begin?

• Any arbitrary meridian could be chosen as origin
• Prime Meridian, Royal Greenwich Observatory

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Where does time begin?

• Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
• Solar day varies
• Celestial time became basis for mean time
• Zulu time (zero hours) n
• UTC Coordinated Universal Time, 1928
• Atomic clocks
• Earths rotational speed may be measured
• Leap seconds have been added

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Geography of Time Zones

• Prime Meridian is basis for UTC
• UTC is origin of time zones UTC n
• E.g. Mountain Standard Time is UTC-7
• Centered on meridians multiples of 15
• 360/24hours 15 time zones in theory
• Adjacent time zones usually one hour apart.
• But
• one hour separation is not universal (India
  UTC530)
• shape and longitudinal extent vary

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Politics and Science!

• Science-based decisions are also
• Political decisions based on
• economic conditions, social relations, and
• technological change.
• Geometrically rational time zones 15
• Geographically rational time zones
• Time zone boundaries arranged to coincide with
  boundaries of human interaction patterns
• Need to reach consensus politics

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Politics of Time

• Until 1800s, solar time was adequate
• High-speed railway transportation
• Telegraph and telephone communications
• British railways started using GMT in 1847
• Multiple reference meridians
• Greenwich, Paris, Rome, Copenhagen, Oslo, Pisa,
  Jerusalem, St. Petersburg, Washington,
  Philadelphia
• World system of time zones proposed by Sir
  Sandford Fleming, 1873

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International Meridian Conference, 1884

• delegates from 25 nations
• Agrees on Greenwich as 0
• 24 hour day
• Longitude measured as 180
• east and west of Greenwich
• Who abstained?
• Did not agree until 1911!

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The Time Zone System

• Canada established time zones in 1891
• Provinces may adjust as local needs require
• Most countries accepted time zones by 1929

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Canadian Time Zonesin theory
TIME ZONES PACIFIC MOUNTAIN CENTRAL EASTERN ATLANTIC NFLD
Time Meridian 120W 105 W 90 W 75 W 60 W 52.5W
Time difference 100 200 300 400 500 530
UTC - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - 4 - 3 ½
Empirical reality is a little different
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110W
102W
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Exceptions by Local Agreement
Source H. David Matthews and Mary Vincent It's
about TIME Canadian Geographic
http//www.canadiangeographic.ca/Magazine/SO98/geo
map.asp
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World Time Zones
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How to Tell the Time? I

• We are in Lethbridge. What time is it in
  Winnipeg?
• Lethbridge is UTC-7, Winnipeg is UTC-6
• (-6)-(-7)1
• Winnipeg time is 1 hour ahead of Lethbridge
• Suppose we are in Shanghai. What time is it in
  Paris?
• Shanghai is UTC9, Paris is UTC1
• (1)-(9)-8
• Paris time is 8 hours behind Shanghai

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How to Tell the Time? II

• Suppose we are in Washington D.C. What time is it
  in Sydney, Australia?
• Washington is UTC-5, Sydney is UTC11
• (11)-(-5)16
• Sydney time is 16 hours ahead of Washington
• Suppose we are in Bangkok. What time is it in
  Honolulu?
• Bangkok is UTC7, Honolulu is UTC-10
• (-10)-(7)-17
• Honolulu time is 17 hours behind Bangkok
• Daylight Saving Time UTC1
• But DST depends on latitude and
• Local preferences e.g. Saskatchewan, Arizona,
  Hawaii

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Daylight Saving Time

• World War I
• Sommerzeit 1916
• British Summer Time 1916
• U.S. Canada Daylight Saving Time 1918
• World War II
• British Double Summer Time
• U.S. Uniform Time Act of 1966
• Urban rural division

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Daylight Saving Time

• 1974 OPEC oil embargo
• Nixon experiment, year-round DST
• 1986 extra month of DST
• 150 million for barbecue industry
• 200-400 million for golf industry
• Savings in lighting cost
• Added cost in petroleum for daylight driving in
  longer evenings
• No saving in energy use!
• See Michael Downing, Tufts University Spring
  Forward The Annual Madness of Daylight Savings
  Time

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Daylight Saving Time

• 2007 U.S. will spring ahead the second Sunday in
  March, three weeks earlier than now. Additionally
  the clocks will fall back the first Sunday in
  November, one week later than the current
  standard.
• 2007 Albertas Daylight Saving Time Act,
• Will conform to U.S.

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Time and Space Themes

• Time may be defined and measured scientifically
• But the map of time is a human creation
• Political decision social process
• Depends on spatial patterns of human activity
• Technology change social process
• Time is money!

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Introduction to Regional Development

• Structure
• Growth
• Structural Change
• Development

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Regional Economic Structure

• Shift from time to space case study
• Coalhurst
• Heuristic
• Structure
• Growth
• Development

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Structure

• the way in which parts are arranged to form a
  whole
• Structure as a framework
• Structure as a nested hierarchy
• Economic structure
• Classification of regional economy into sectors
• Measure their size (count, employment, value)
• Describe components of the structure

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Commercial Structure of a Service Centre The
Economic Geography of Coalhurst

• Town of Coalhurst 1,493 in 2004
• Services
• 1 post office
• 1 elementary school
• 1 high school
• 1 bar/restaurant
• 1 Royal Canadian Legion
• 1 gas station and convenience store
• 1 specialized lumber distributor
• 1 manufacturer of cement lawn ornaments

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Is Coalhurst Growing?
Year Population Dwellings
Population 2004 1,493
Population 2002 1,476
Population 2001 1,475 510
Population 2000 1,465
Population 1999 1,465
Population 1996 1,439 470
Population 1991 1,322 415
Percent change 1991-1996 8.9 13.3
Percent change 1996-2001 2.5 8.5
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Is Coalhurst Developing?Commercial Structure of
Coalhurst in 1989

• Town of Coalhurst 1,289
• Services
• 1 post office
• 1 elementary school
• 1 high school
• 1 bar/restaurant
• 1 Royal Canadian Legion
• 1 gas station and convenience store (new)
• 1 convenience store
• 1 specialized lumber distributor
• 1 manufacturer of cement lawn ornaments

A different kind of regional structure
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Coalhursts Demographic Structure, 2003
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Suppose Coalhurst were to Grow...

• Town of Coalhurst 1,493,000
• Services
• 1,000 post offices
• 1,000 elementary schools
• 1,000 high schools
• 1,000 bar/restaurants
• 1,000 Royal Canadian Legions
• 1,000 gas station and convenience stores
• 1,000 specialized lumber distributors
• 1,000 fountain manufacturers
• What would be missing?

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What have we learned from Coalhurst?

• Experienced distinction between growth and
  development
• Calculated growth rates
• Structure in the context of economic geography
• Commercial structure
• Little change between 1989 and 2004
• Demographic Structure
• Family-oriented
• Slow growth but no evidence of structural change
• How can this community be sustainable?

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Understanding locations in spaceSite and
Situation

• Site - absolute locational concept
• Physical characteristics
• Economic and cultural attributes
• Situation relative locational concept
• External relationships with other places
• location relative to other features
• Markets
• Services
• Employment

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How Can We Understand the location of Coalhurst?

• Site Undifferentiated prairie
• Shallow coal deposit
• Coal mine closed in 1936
• Situation 10 minutes from Lethbridge
• Suburban satellite of Lethbridge
• Employment
• Shopping
• Services
• Residents choose Coalhurst for its lack of
  development
• Dependency relationship is an asset