5 Places and spaces
Before you start
Main focus
How place and space, as major geographical concepts or organising ideas, help us to better understand how we, other people and cultures see and connect with places that are important to who we are.
Why it’s relevant to us
The way we see, understand and connect with places that are significant in our lives, as well as other people’s and other cultures’ futures, has a big influence on how we live today.
Inquiry questions
- What factors influence how we perceive and engage with places in our local area?
- Why do we see some places as safe and/or inclusive and other places as unsafe and/or exclusive?
- What can our community do to improve people’s access to places, activities and services and ensure that public places in our local community are safe?
- How do the activities and interests of Australians shape places?
- What are the challenges and opportunities this presents for designing more sustainable futures?
Key terms
- City
- Consensus
- Domestic tourism
- Geographical concept
- Governance
- Identity
- International tourism
- Population
- Service centre
- Town
- Worldview
Let’s begin
Place and space are major geographical concepts, or organising ideas, that help us see, understand and connect with our local area and other places, spaces, cultures and environments. They provide important ways for us to gather and interpret information to make informed decisions about the use of places, connecting places over space and time, and understanding the environmental, cultural, social and economic consequences of these decisions.