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Thinking Geographically - Coggle Diagram
Thinking Geographically
Relationship between people and nature in their neighbourhood (1.1)
People depend on nature
Survival: nature provides essentials like air and water
Living organisms like bees help pollinate crops and produce continuous supply of food
Recreation: nature provides spaces for people to conduct their leisure activities
which: connect people in neighbourhood, allows people to bond and spend more time with family and friends, maintain our physical and social well-being, people can unwind
E.g. Nparks Therapeutic Gardens help to connect people with nature and reduce stress which improves their physical, psychological and social well-being
Nature depend on people
People's investing efforts: reforestation
Raise awareness: Individuals can encourage one another to enjoy nature areas without causing any irreversible damage
E.g Npark organises a range of activities for schools: Green wave campaign to educate youths about the importance of protecting the natural environment
Nature brings benefits to people
Lowering air temperature with the help of presence of vegetation
Different land use have different vegetation
E.g parks and nature reserves have more vegetation than CBD area
The more vegetation, the lower the temperature
Evapotranspiration: water is released and evaporated from the leaves as water vapour, cooling the surrounding
-Provide shade and reduces the amount of direct sunlight that reaches the surface
Removal of pollutants
Vegetation absorbs pollutants, the small particles are then intercepted by leaves and washed down to the ground by rainwater
Wetland plants traps pollutants, suspended materials and absorbs excess nutrients
People bring benefits to nature
Education and awareness
Promote the importance of environmental protection
Raise awareness about the value of nature areas
Encourage positive behaviour that does not damage nature
Community activities
-Cleanup programmes
-which: removes pollutants, restore natural habitats, provide a healthy environment for urban wildlife to thrive and sustain
Disadvantages people bring to nature
Soil erosion and damaging vegetation
When people hike along non-designated areas and trails in nature areas,
They may trample and damage vegetation
As many people trample, it becomes an excessive trample of topsoil
It will then result in soil compaction: prevents rainwater from infiltrating the surface
Causes surface runoff: water washes away all the soil particles
Result in soil erosion: prevents air, water and roots from penetrating
Eventually it affects the plant growth
Worsening pollution and disturbing wildlife
E.g Littering of items
Animals can get cut by metal cans or entangled with plastic containers or bags
Animals may mistake the litter items for food and consume them
Causes animals to get hurt and suffer
Leads to death and injuries
E.g Feeding wildlife
May alter habits and behaviours
Animals may become dependent and would associate food with people
Losing their natural foraging (search for food) ability
Animals may leave their natural habitat for food
Increasing the number beyond carrying capacity
Thus, increasing human-wildlife conflicts
Mutual Relationship between Nature and People
Presence of green space and urban wildlife enhances the mental health and well-being of people
Human activities like reforestation enhances the overall health of the natural environment and provides more shelter and habitats for urban wildlife to thrive
Disadvantage nature brings to people
Increase of human-wildlife encounter
Reasons:
Urban expansion
As Singapore urbanise and develop, deforestation may occur to make way for other buidlings and estates, resulting in animals losing their habitat and resources. In order to survive, animals may venture out of their nature areas into urban areas
People's growing interest in outdoor recreation
People are spending more time in nature areas for their recreational and leisure acitivities
People may not know how to react or deal with the animals and may unintentionally provoke them, leading to attacks
Some animals may be more vulnerable, confused and fearfu as they have ventured out into unfamiliar territories, increasing the liklihood of attacking as to protect themselves
Environmental protection may be perceied to be limiting development
Some people may feel that the protection of nature is done at the expense of their needs
E.g
The Cross Island MRT is to be built around instead of under, the Central Catchment Nature Reserve to protect our largest primary rainforest
People were afraid that the development would:
Bring them Inconvienences
Damage their property
Homes being acquired to make way for the consrtuction
Sense of place in neighbourhoods (1.2)
Sense of place
Developed when people associate or attach importance, meaning and memories with locations
Reflects the relationship people have with the places around them
Derived from our positive and negative experiences with the natural and built environment
Highly personal and subjective
A location may hold different meanings for different people
Dependent on our needs, lifestyle and experiences
E.g Homemakers and retirees associate different meaning and attachments to hawker centre
Homemakers associate hawker centres with the idea of convenience and the wide variety of food as they often purchase their meals there
Retirees associate hawker centres with the idea of leisure activities and relationship as they regularly meet their friends for drink there
Why is it important?
Builds our identity
Enables us to understand ourselves and others better
Gives us a sense of belonging our neighbourhood
How do people acquire (develop) a sense of place?
Repeated encounters with objects and people
This helps us to:
Acquire and strengthen our sense of place
Recall the features of the places we come across and associate meaning and memories with them
E.g Many residents in Singapore have vivid memories of the scenic journeys along East Coast Parkway as it is a route that they return home from overseas
Significant or memorable events that occur at local landmarks and gathering places
Landmarks are buildings and structures with distinguishing characteristics
Highly visible and easy to remember
Serve symbolic and historical purposes
Holds positive and negative memories
Negative memories: tragedy
Features public symbols that reflect community responses
Serves as a place for people to preserve their memories of loved ones
How is sense of place represented?
Represented through different forms and types of media by individuals and organisations
Reflects people's ideas, memories and significance of the location
Expressed through different forms: texts, audios, graphics, still or moving objects
Shared through various media types: social media, print media
Representations of sense of place that enhance an individual's sense of place
Enhanced through expressions of different emotions
Add new layers of meanings to these places by revealing interesting information
Relationship between locations in a neighbourhood (1.3)
What are regions?
Areas with similar physical and human characteristics
Vary in size
Classified according to:
Environmental (Nature vs Built up)
Human use (Commercial vs Residential)
Geographical ( East vs West)
Can be sphere of influence of services, events and objects on other location in the area
A region's boundaries is where the sphere of influence is absent
What are spatial patterns? - Reflects non-random arrangement that are in shapes, clusters, geometry or repeated occurence at regular intervals
Helps us to understand the world around us
Easily identified on the map: services events and objects are represented by points, lines, polygons, shapes and geometry such as circles and lines
E.g:
Train stations on Singapore's circle line resembles an oval (shape)
Companies in the heavy industry are clustered in the west of Singapore (clusters)
Public bus stops are located at regular intervals of about 400 metre, enables people to access them easily, increasing the level of accessibility and convience
What are spatial associations?
Tendency of a pair of services, events and objects to be located near each other
E.g:
Lifts and stairways are located next to each other
Fitness centres are located near HDB blocks so that elderlies can access them easily without the hassle of travelling to another block or estate
Train stations and bus interchanges are located next to each other to help residents to plan their trip and increase the convenience of switching from one mode of transport to another, decreasing their travelling time
Organisation of the neighbourhood in Singapore (1.4)
What are spatial scales?
Extent of an area where phenomenon or process takes place
Can be from local, regional and global ( Global areas can consist of many regions, then countries. Within the country, it can consist of smaller spatial units such as provinces and districts )
Nested areas are smaller areas located within larger areas
Knowing spatial scales can: help us to understand how events and processes at one spatial scale may affect people and nature at other spatial scales
Examining phenomena and processes at different scales can: provide different perspective based on the spatial patterns and trends observed
What are spatial scales in Singapore?
20 towns in Singapore
Each town has a town council with a concentration of activities
Commercial and social hub for residents
Large gathering places for community activities: Punggol Town Square and Festive Plaza at our Tampines hub
Integrated transport hub where bus interchanges and train stations are located near shopping malls
Increases convenience: will attract visitors from other towns to visit, making viable for large shopping malls to be located there
Attract businesses to locate their offices in these town centres to take advantage of lower cost and travelling time for their workers
Spatial hieraches
Residential units, Precincts, Nieghbourhood, Town
Each of the residential units are part of a precinct, a few precincts make up a neighbourhood that is located in town
Precinct
400 to 800 residential units
Facilities are close to one another, serving residents' everyday needs
E.g Children's playground, coummunity gardens and covered linkways are located near each other, enchancing convenience and accessibillity as well as catering to various needs
There are also other facilities spreaded throughout to meet the resdients' needs
E.g Bus stops are spreaded out in regular intervals such that there are bus stops near every apartment block, allows residents to access these bus stops easier
Neighbourhood and town
4000 to 6000 residents
Surrounds the town centre, enablng residents to travel to and from town centre conveniently
Each town has a wide range of facilities and features that enhances residents' convenience and meet their everyday needs
E.g Extensive roads, cycling and pedestrian network for residents to travel from one precinct to another or one neigbourhood to town centre easily
E.g Shops and schools to serve needs
Some neighbourhoods have integrated facilties that bring together amenities under one roof
E.g Bukit Panjang Bus Interchange, not only located next to a train station but also have community spaces, eldercare and childcare centres, food outlets and medical centres.
Town planning
Serves residents and provide for nature at precinct, neighbourhood and town
Land in each town is used for housing, industrial and commercial development while remaining land is set aside for essential facilities such as roads, schools and parks
Facilities at precinct, neighbourhood and town levels:
enables each town to be self-sufficient and provide employment opportunities
E.g Tengah, 'forest town'
Features:
5km long forest corridor to support a rich biodiversity in the town
Nature and the community where residents an experience being "at home with nature"
Dedicated network enables residents to travel conveniently within Tengah on foot or by cycling
Opportunities for residents to farm together at community gardens
Creates connection and synergies across precincts, neighbourhoods and towns
Achieve sustainability
Long term plans at nation level by optimising scarce lands to meet diverse needs of current and future generations
E.g
Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) coordinates involving stakeholders and agencies.
the long term plan maps out landuse and infrastructure for next 50 years and renew every 10 years
Consider: diverse needs , competing landuses and key infrastructure
Challenges
Limited size, both a city and sovereign state
Need to include uses that are not found in cities such as military facilities, waste treatment, power stations, airport, seaport
E.g Seneko waste to energy plant
manages pollution concerns through waste treatments
maximises benefits such as job creations and education opportunities for students in nearby towns
synergy is produced as considerations for both nature and people taken into account