Diverse Places

With that in mind, diverse places are variations in an area or location. To understand this, we need to look at the factors that make a diverse place.

Examining diverse places using population structure

A Population Structure is the composition and characteristics (such as age and gender) of a given location, which can be represented in a Population Pyramid. It is one of the measures that can demonstrate the diversity of a place and how it varies over time.

To understand this concept, let's have a look at the UK's Population Structure. Since the first census in 1801, the UK's population has increased sixfold to reach an estimated 67.22 million in 2020. The main driver for this growth has been migration.

The population in the UK is unevenly distributed and has grown at different rates depending on location. Urban places are more densely populated than rural places. They have a younger, more ethnically diverse population, and a higher proportion of young adults (20 to 40 years old).

The population density in rural areas has increased in traditional villages (especially with people over 65), and in those rural settlements that have become commuter belts. The population density of a given location is the number of people per unit area (usually per square kilometre). Suburban, rural-urban fringes, and accessible rural areas have also seen population growth. Regionally, there has been strong growth in the South, some growth in the Midlands, and minimal growth in the North. There is also evidence to suggest that population growth and economic prosperity go together.

Factors that influence population trends

Government actions have also fostered or suppressed diversity both historically and even today:

• The Windrush generation: after a government-sponsored job advertisement was distributed overseas, a large number of Afro-Caribbean migrants came to the UK to work. However, it has recently come to light that both they and their children were not offered UK citizenship.
• Brexit: this has caused unease among EU citizens who are living and working in the UK. Many have now returned home.

The proportion of the UK population aged 65 years and over in 2016 and 2039, www.ons.gov.co

How past and present connections shape the diversity of places

How past and present connections have shaped various places can be summarized in terms of Globalisation and immigration, which have led to demographic and cultural changes. Globalisation has driven traditional communities apart, while immigration has changed the character of places.

Let's take a closer look:

• The British government promoted large-scale immigration from the British colonies from the 1940s to the 1960s.
• Immigration changed the character of the regions that advertised the job vacancies (35% of Dewsbury town now consists of Pakistani Muslims).
• The traditional way of life has changed. Mosques and sharia courts can now be found in some regions of the UK.
• Once established in the UK, a migrant can apply for family members from their home country to come and join them. These migrants formed the majority of non-UK-based-born residents in 2014.

Globalisation

• During the 1990s, the UK was known as 'cool Britannia'. The UK was an attractive place to live in due to its global link to many companies (work) and its Global Culture (varied and liberal lifestyle).
• Due to the demand for specific skills, many companies encourage immigrants from overseas to move to the UK.
• After 1992, the Maastricht Agreement allowed the free movement of workers between EC states. When the EU expanded in 2004 there was an influx of workers to the UK. Since 2004, for example, over 6000,000 poles have arrived in the UK.

Other influences on the diversity of places

Influences on a place can be broken down into:

Global

• The presence of international brands like Facebook or McDonald's. This leads to clone high streets. That is, high streets that are dominated by chain stores, which makes them indistinct from other high streets around Europe.
• Tourism: certain locations attract millions of tourists, which means a surge in hotels, jobs, and supporting infrastructure.

National

• Specific government policies and offices.
• Accessibility to the place: airports, trains, road links, and ports.

Regional

• Major cities nearby and the influence this has on topics like work, shopping, or Employment.
• The government offers aid packages to encourage companies to invest regionally. These include Enterprise Zones, where incentives are focused on a particular area. For example, the incentives to invest in Cornwall were tax discounts (up to £ 160,000 for five years), no need for building permissions, and county-wide superfast broadband.

Local

• The political inclinations of local councils.
• The sense of community that there might be in a place.
• The efforts to increase cultural understanding.

The perception of diverse places

The perceptions of Urban And Rural spaces have changed over time. They also vary based on the groups of people and their lived experiences. People's lived experiences, which is their memory and feelings of living in a certain place, can also influence their own image and identity.

Many of the UK's largest cities were born during the Industrial Revolution. Their growth fueled a massive movement of people from rural areas to urban ones. People had the perception that the good life was to be found in urban rather than rural places.

Urban reality

What is the reality behind urban living? Let's see some examples.

Higher living costs

Wages are generally better in urban places. However, we need to take into account the costs of accommodation (which is sometimes of poor quality), commuting, and food.

Low environmental quality

Living in an urban location generally means atmospheric pollution, constant noise, sharp lights, and anti-social behaviors (street drinking, begging, or rowdy neighbours).

Crime

Evidence shows that the average crime rate in rural areas is significantly lower than in urban areas.

Crime in Urban And Rural areas, England & Wales 2020/21. Source: ONS (OGL)

Rural reality

Rural places tend to be divided into two groups:

• Those that lie within commuting reach of towns and cities.
• Those that lie beyond that reach, but are accessible for recreation, leisure, and retirement.

Currently, more people in the UK are moving to rural areas pursuing their idea of the so-called 'rural myth' or rural idyll. According to it, rural places are problem-free, peaceful, healthy, and friendly.

Rural living is seen as desirable. Source: pixabay

What is the reality of rural living? People in rural areas often have to travel further to access services and facilities that urban dwellers take for granted. This is known as the rural desert. It means the nearest doctor, shop, or post office could be many miles away. Rural services are more vulnerable to public finance constraints since their delivery is more expensive than in urban areas. For example, a local bus service has greater distances to travel, therefore its services can be withdrawn or reduced.

Other issues include:

• Transport: Services in a rural area are highly dependent on a form of transport.
• Housing: Narrow staircase and latched door may seem attractive to the young, but are they practical for the elderly? Will the garden and upkeep of the home be manageable? Also, the heating costs are high as many rural homes rely on solid fuel or oil.
• Technology: As more services become available online the ability to access these via the internet is increasingly important. Although steps are being taken to improve broadband services in rural areas, there is still a very long way to go in comparison to what's available in an urban location.

Demographic and cultural tension between diverse places

The north-south divide is a term used to describe the disparities between London and the south-east of England and the rest of the UK in social, economic, and cultural terms.

Since the 1930s, migration within the UK has contributed to this divide. People living in the southeast have a better Life Expectancy, higher income, and better standards of living than those who live in the north. Two well-defined differences between these areas are that house prices in the southeast are higher due to high demand, and the rates of unemployment are higher in the north as some regions suffer de-industrialization.

The main cause of the north-south divide is de-industrialization. Manufacturing industries that were traditionally located in the north began to close and the economy declined. At the same time, the south-east became increasingly prosperous in response to the growth of the financial and service sector, and the dominance of London. As a result, people migrated south looking for work.

The UK government and the EU attempted to reduce the north-south divide by investing in the north. They implemented some such as the Enterprise Zones that we mentioned before.

As a result of these movements within the UK, new tensions surfaced. Tensions in a residential space are often caused by resistance to change. The flow of migrants into an area will begin to change its basic characteristics. This causes tensions between those who are new arrivals and those who class themselves as long-term residents.