WHY MAKE IT HERE?

Regional Planning: Unit Three Places and PerspectivesLesson Two, The Wealthiest Place

Maggie Legates, DGA June, 2011

SITE AND SITUATION

Definition: The physical features of a place are called the site

Wilmington’s site is next to the Delaware River. The Delaware River gives easy access to Philadelphia, to the C&D Canal, and to the Atlantic. This makes Wilmington’s situation excellent for transporting goods made in Wilmington to other locations and for importing goods to distribute to other places.

Copy the definition of “site” into your notebook. Then read the passage describing Wilmington’s site.

>Click when ready<

SITE AND SITUATION

Definition: Location and interaction relative to all others places is called situation.

Wilmington’s excellent situation has helped it grow and prosper. Wilmington is situated along the major highway of I95 and is situated between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Its situation between two major cities has increased Wilmington’s trade.

Copy the definition of “situation” into your notebook. Then read the passage describing Wilmington’s situation.

>Click when ready<

SITE AND SITUATION

Keeping in mind the definitions and information on the previous two slides, answer the following questions:

Question 1: If you were going to start a farm, what kind of site would you be looking for?

Question 2: What kind of situation would you be looking for?

Read, then answer the two questions on this slide in your notebook.

>Click when ready<

BUSINESS AND INDUSTRIAL PLANNERS LOOK FOR A GOOD SITE

Industrial location WISH LIST: Suitable building, storage space,

parking at low cost Plenty of skilled labor, low wages and

benefits Excellent infrastructure and utilities Safety and security provided by local

police Low taxes and few restrictions

Copy the text on this slide into your notebook.

>Click when ready<

BUT SITUATION CAN BE JUST AS IMPORTANT!

How far must raw materials be moved to get to our place of business?

Are there likely to be disruptions in supply for raw materials, component parts, or packaging?

How reliable are the highways, bridges and tunnels, port facilities?

Can we get the product to market or point-of-sale “just in time”?

Copy the text on this slide into your notebook.

>Click when ready<

INDUSTRIAL LOCATION THEORY:

Max Weber, a geographer

from Germany, noticed

that most successful

industrial sites were

located at a good site that

also balanced the costs of

transporting raw materials

with the costs of getting

products to market.

Read this slide.

>Click when ready<

ABOUT TRANSPORTATION COSTS: LOGISTICS MATTER

Air transport is most expensive.

It is used when time is important and/or products are light and valuable.

Read this slide.

>Click when ready<

GROUND TRANSPORT

Trucks can move goods to more places and costs are moderate. Of course, there are size and weight limits for trucks. Refrigerated trailers and other special carriers make trucks flexible.

Rail and water transport are least expensive but can be slow. Trains and barges usually carry heavy, bulky cargo.

Read this slide.

>Click when ready<

INTERMODAL SHIPPING

Containers can be specialized for the contents and can be moved from ship to train or truck without reloading all the cargo.

Read this slide.

>Click when ready<

WHAT IS THE RESULT? DO I SEE A PATTERN?

If one business has found a winning combination of site and situation, others may follow!

Soon clusters of producers of the same product can be found in a region.

Support industries often locate near-by, adding to the cluster.

Question 3: Can you think of a local example of this pattern?

Read the slide, then answer question 3.

>Click when ready<

HOW DID THIS PLAY OUT IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE AMERICAN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY?

Ford built a plants in Dearborn, Highland Park, Pontiac and other towns in Michigan.

Other automakers located near-by forming a cluster.

Parts suppliers located in Michigan, and also in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin and Illinois.

Detroit and Dearborn area auto plants form a

cluster

Parts suppliers and “feeder” industries

How did this affect the places in Michigan and the states surrounding the auto cluster?

•Population increased as workers were attracted to the area.•Rural places became urban. •Real estate values rose.•Agriculture was pushed out by homes and businesses as land became more valuable.•Cultural diversity rose as people moved to Michigan looking for jobs.•More and better roads were needed as car owners could drive to work.

Read the following slide.

>Click when ready<

LAND USE IS PARTLY DETERMINED BY DISTANCE FROM INDUSTRIAL CLUSTERS

Geographer Von Thunen noticed a pattern of land use in Europe during the industrial revolution.

Do you think this pattern applies in other world regions where heavy industry is present?

Heavy Industry Light

industry

Field crop agriculture

Ranching and grazing

Read the following slide.

>Click when ready<

CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING

“Motor

City

Support industry

Agriculture

Why did the Detroit area have a good geographic situation? What factors do you think were balanced by this choice of location?

Where on this map are land prices likely to be highest? Where are they likely to be lowest?

How did the availability of automobiles affect the earning power of people in the area around Detroit?

Answer the following questions in your notebook.

>Click when ready<

DO NOW

You will now read this article on Nylon production in Seaford Delaware

You will be answering the following questions:

How did Seaford change when DuPont chose to build there?

How efficient was shipping materials to and from the plant?

What were the changing markets (purchasers) of nylon?

Answer the following questions in Edmodo.

>Click when ready<

EXIT TICKET

What geographic factors do you believe could have led to the opening of the Chrysler plant here in Newark in the 1950’s? Use concepts you learned from this lesson in order to answer

the question Be sure to list multiple reasons so you have more opportunities

to earn points!

For extra points- what could have changed to cause the plant’s closing?

Answer the exit ticket ON YOUR OWN in edmodo.

>Click when ready<