This document is a lecture presentation about Norfolk, England given by Alan Parkinson. It explores definitions and concepts of "place" through examining images and perceptions of Norfolk. It discusses how places are socially constructed and can be redefined. The presentation shows how Norfolk is connected to the global context and envisions its potential future as a place, including issues like sea level rise, renewable energy development, and changing agriculture. The goal is to provide a different perspective on Norfolk and think about what defines a sense of place.

1. “Very flat, Norfolk” – geographies of place Norfolk GA Branch Presidential Lecture 15th March 2010 Alan Parkinson, CGeog, FRGS Geographical Association

2. “Place is one of the trickiest words in the English language, a suitcase so overfilled that one can never shut the lid...” Dolores Hayden, 1997 Image by Tim Caynes CC Flickr

3. http://www.animoto.com From my photo album

6. Degree at Huddersfield Polytechnic, W. Yorkshire

7. PGCE at Hull University, E. Yorkshire

8. Taught for 20 years in King’s Lynn

9. Awarded 3 Innovative Geography teaching grants

10. June 2008: won Ordnance Survey Award “for excellence in secondary geography teaching”

12. Involves a range of project-based work and developing and delivering CPD for a range of audiences

13. Maintain 8 blogs, and a range of NING networks for GA members and other groups

14. In the last year have visited / spoken to groups in over 60 locations around the UK from Islay, to Somerset, to Canterbury, to Wrexham, to Shrewbury...

16. Where was I born ?

17. Rotherham: sense of “place”

19. Jamie Oliver

20. “Childhood is a branch of cartography” Michael Chabon

22. Connect local with global, as part of the ‘Living Geography’ approach

23. Explore the concept of “place”

24. Take ‘a different view’ of Norfolk

26. Wordle of results...

27. Noel Coward

28. Image by Flickr user zaser

29. Images of Norfolk

30. http://www.geograph.org.uk & FLICKR CC images

34. On the seventh day God didn't rest. He looked at what he had created and thought: 'Oh dammit, England's gone all wrong. The sea is washing silt off the coastlines in the north and depositing them in an ugly bulbous lump near Kent'. Today we call this unholy place East Anglia

35. “Why would I want to go and live in bloody Norfolk for God’s sake ? Nothing good ever came out of Norfolk...”

36. What do we mean by ‘place’ ? What is your favourite place in norfolk & why ?

37. “Geography” – GA journalAutumn 2008 issue“PLACE”Tim Cresswell

38. Many think of place as relating to places, rather than the concept of place...

39. Classic definition of place place (pls)n.1.a. An area with definite or indefinite boundaries; a portion of space. b. Room or space, especially adequate space: There is place for everyone at the back of the room. 2.a. The particular portion of space occupied by or allocated to a person or thing. b. A building or an area set aside for a specified purpose: a place of worship. 3.a. A dwelling; a house: bought a place on the lake. b. A business establishment or office. c. A locality, such as a town or city: visited many places. 4. Abbr. Pl. A public square or street with houses in a town. 5.a. A space in which one person, such as a passenger or spectator, can sit or stand. b. A setting for one person at a table. 6. A position regarded as belonging to someone or something else; stead: She was chosen in his place. 7. A particular point that one has reached, as in a book: I have lost my place. 8. A particular spot, as on the body: the place that hurts. 9.a. The proper or designated role or function: the place of the media in a free society. b. The proper or customary position or order: These books are out of place. c. A suitable setting or occasion: not the place to argue. d. The appropriate right or duty: not her place to criticize.

40. 10. Social station: He overstepped his place. 11. A particular situation or circumstance: Put yourself in my place. 12. High rank or status. 13. A job, post, or position: found a place in the company. 14. Relative position in a series; standing. 15. Games Second position for betting purposes, as in a horserace. 16. The specified stage in a list of points to be made, as in an argument: in the first place. 17. Mathematics A position in a numeral or series. v. placed, plac·ing, plac·es v.tr.1. To put in or as if in a particular place or position; set. 18. To put in a specified relation or order: Place the words in alphabetical order. 19. To offer for consideration: placed the matter before the board. 20. To find accommodation or employment for. 21. To put into a particular condition: placed him under arrest. 22. To arrange for the publication or display of: place an advertisement in the newspaper. 23. To appoint to a post: placed her in a key position. 24.a. To rank in an order or sequence: I'd place him second best. b. To estimate: placed the distance at 100 feet. 25. To identify or classify in a particular context: could not place that person's face. 26.a. To give an order for: place a bet. b. To apply or arrange for: place an order. 27. To adjust (one's voice) for the best possible effects.

41. “The idea of place can be divisive, because it requires a boundary, and therefore an ‘inside’ and an ‘outside’...”

42. “I’m not a tourist, I live here...”

43. Yi Fu Tuan “Place is security, space is freedom. We are attached to one and long for the other.” Geographer, Yi-Fu Tuan “...place is whatever stable object catches our attention. As we look at a panoramic scene our eyes pause at points of interest. Each pause is time enough to create an image of a place that looms large momentarily in our view.” 2005 With thanks to Daniel Raven Ellison

44. Eleanor Rawling Geographers do not just see a place as an ‘objective thing’ in the world that can be described and explained as they build up geographical knowledge. ‘Place’ is also experienced on a personal and deeply emotional level.

46. Will Self psychogeography

47. Geography teachers often talk about the subject developing “a sense of place”…

48. Norfolk Coast

49. “the visceral essence of place” Rachel Cook (2008)

50. “a meaningful segment of geographical space”

52. Robert Macfarlane and Roger Deakin

53. Place is “socially constructed”

54. Allan Smethurst“The Singing Postman”

55. Dialect“ a sense of belonging to a place”...

56. Flickr user: the ginger bloke

57. How important is dialect in defining a place ?Is it used to help identify those who are from “elsewhere” ? Image by Flickr user nutmeg66

58. Changing places…

59. The Norfolk “brand” ?

60. Harry Hill

61. Image by Flickr user Stewie D

62. Impressions of place“REBRANDING....”

63. Impressions of place“REBRANDING....”

64. Impressions of place“REBRANDING....”

65. How could we rebrand Norfolk ?

66. Poppyland

67. Nelson’s County....

68. “I am a Norfolk man and Glory in being so.” “You either get Norfolk, with its wild roughness and uncultivated oddities, or you don't. It's not all soft and lovely. It doesn't ask to be loved.”

69. Kingdom Country ??

70. Bernard Matthewsland

71. http://www.worldclassnorfolk.com/

72. Professor Doreen MasseyJunior Vice PresidentGeographical Association

73. “local sense of the global” glocalisation...

74. Today Norfolk, tomorrow the world Global connections

75. “a different view”

76. Flickr user: Tim Caynes

78. Norfolk: future places....

79. Sea level rise

80. Coastal erosion and abandonment

81. Renewable energy...“The engine room....” Image by Flickr user i_gallagher - CC

82. Future crops ??

83. Future connectivity...

84. Future maps: CyberspaceBarbara HuiRings of Saturn

85. Google Street View

89. “Look at it this Way” KS3 Toolkit book

92. Acknowledgements All images by Alan Parkinson, and available from FLICKR under Creative Commons Except: Slides 3, 4 and image by Val Vannet Slide by Sally Parkinson Slide by Seth Johnson – part of “a different view” Slide by disco~stu Thanks to my Twitter Flock who answered my Norfolk queries.

93. Acknowledgements FLICKR Creative Commons images.... For further information http://norfcoastblog.blogspot.com – also on Twitter

94. Acknowledgements http://www.literarynorfolk.co.uk/index.htm - information on Norfolk’s culture http://www.geography.org.uk/adifferentview - materials on the GA’s manifesto for geography

95. My contact details aparkinson@geography.org.uk GeoBlogs GeoBlogs