Constructing Plymouth Identity

Name: Zak StevensStudent ID: 10422131

Constructing Plymouth’s Identity: a critical comparison of auto-ethnographic observations of place and marketing images of the city.

Introduction

Prior to the modern era of the 21st century, where the human race was not influenced by the driving force of globalisation and capitalism, where technologies of advanced transport were not present; where subsistence lifestyle was a common theme among the human population; the identity of places, in the case of villages, towns and cities was simply their name. Nowadays in the globalised and inter-connected world driven by competition and demand for trade, name alone is not enough. The identity of places is of utmost priority, particularly in terms of socio-economics (Bradshaw M et.al). Places that are unknown lose out in investment, tourism, key sectors that keep their location on the map, that make them stand out to people. Identity of a place is not through the name, identity of a place is constructed through each component whether it be a street, a building etc. and how this is experienced by people, a “sense of place”. This report will focus on the city of Plymouth and will use my experience, my feelings and my emotions of exploring Plymouth to understand how Plymouth is marketed and represented in order to understand the concepts of “place”, “sense of place” and “commodification of place” featuring additional research.

Literature Review.

Analysing information provided by journal articles, books, and website pages featuring advertisements, has helped provide an analytical framework which has enabled the key concepts of “place”, “sense of place” and “commodification of place” to be further explored and defined. The concept of “place” is vastly explored by many human geographers, each of whom have conjured their own attempts at defining and explaining place. For example, Harold M et.al (1983) describes “place” as: “The essence of “place” lies in the largely unselfconscious intentionality that defines places as centres of human existence. There is for virtually everyone a deep association with and consciousness of the places where we were born and grew up, where we live now, or where we have had particularly moving experiences” (Harold M et.al, 1983). Harold M et.al attempts to constitute the concept of place with the association of individuals with home through mixed emotions, cultural being and belonging so that they are “rooted” to the place where they are present. On the other hand Tuan (1980) claims it is impossible for people of contemporary Western civilizations to be rooted to a place- here he could be suggesting that due to globalisation, as the world has become more interconnected and more urbanised, more people are migrating away from home in order to find work and a better quality of life, whether being rural-urban migration or vice versa- but also agrees that the primary function of place is to engage a sense of belonging and attachment.


The concept of “sense of place” differentiates from “place” by considering the social and geographical context of place bonds and the sensing of places, such as aesthetics and a feeling of dwelling, whilst incorporating insider status and local ancestry which together develop rootedness towards a place (Hay, R). Hay’s theory is that “sense of place” involves a person’s experience of a place through use of emotions and their senses of smell, sight, touch, hear and taste before bringing these experiences together to form an overall opinion of a place. This theory is generally accepted, despite there being no specific definition for “sense of place”, as it provides an analytical framework for people who are going to experience a place- an example being myself as a student with Plymouth.

The concept of “place commodification” involves places, both in urban and rural locations, attempting to use their uniqueness to promote themselves to people and industry, such as tourism, to gain investment and popularity (Storey, 2006). This can be done through “place marketing”, where places use advertisements and photographs to make a place look more appealing for tourists and attract investors. Some places, particularly rural locations, use their heritage, both culturally and socially, to increase their popularity, an example of this is Corris in Wales where the old mining town used the closed-down mines(for business) to re-open as a tourist attraction for families with children(North Wales Tourism(Corris Mine Explores, 2009). Overall, places promote themselves in many different ways to attract tourists and investment through “place commodification”.

Methodology

Obtaining data for Constructing Plymouth’s Identity involved using two different methods of data collection: autho-enthnographic data collection and critical image analysis.

Auto-ethnographic data collection.

Auto-ethnography is a method of data collection that involves researchers observing, writing and studying about a place and includes 5 key features:

1. Complete member researcher (CMR).2. Analytic reflexivity.3. Narrative visibility of the researcher’s self.4. Dialogue with informants beyond the self.5. Commitment to theoretical analysis. (Anderson, 2006)

Advantages of this method of data collection include is that it provides “insider meanings”, the researcher’s feelings, but this can also be a disadvantage due to biasedness and so the researcher has to take into account the positionality of other researchers as well as their own thoughts(Bradshaw, 2012). A greater methodological advantage of being personally identified and involved in the social world under study is that it gives the researcher an added vantage point for


accessing certain kinds of data (Anderson, 2006). Overall, this method of data was chosen for constructing Plymouth’s Identity because it provided accurate, but brief, insights into particular areas of the city of Plymouth. However, due to heavy rainfall being present at the time of the walk this did affect the results as notes could not be taken from different sights of the tour but instead photographs were taken which were later analysed as well as thoughts processed. This technique can be improved in terms of the tour covering only a small part of Plymouth with most of the areas being the city centre.

Critical Image Analysis.

Critical Image Analysis involved going to the Tourist Information Centre, located at the Plymouth Barbican, to collect images which were then critically analysed through the method shown by Fig 1(Richard P 2007, O Jenkins 1999). This method is advantageous as analysis of these images shows how Plymouth is trying to portray itself to the world and links between images lead to suggestions over what Plymouth’s identity is e.g. Britain’s Ocean City. However, this method can be biased as the images available at the Tourist Information Centre and Plymouth City Council only show the attractive destinations of Plymouth, such as the Hoe and Royal William Yard, and avoid areas like the outer suburbs and remaining areas of Plymouth.

Results and Discussion

Figure 1-Diagram explaining the method of Critical Image Analysis- The Critical Thinking Community (Richard P, 2007)


Before moving to Plymouth as a student, I had emotional attachments to the city from visiting on previous occasions since the age of 9. However, there is one particular occasion on my first visit of Plymouth that first began to form the bond which now makes it feel like a second home; this was the place where the I first saw the sea through my own eyes. Therefore, when starting university, moving to Plymouth was not like moving into “a new world” as other students experienced but instead bringing back the emotions of childhood into a new

stage of life as a student and young adult. This brought with it the challenge of moving from home through rural-urban migration, as home was in the middle of the UK (The Midlands, Stafford) in a rural area, which made moving into Plymouth feel at first like moving into a “concrete jungle” as the emotions of hearing constant traffic and urban development together with living seven storeys up in a concrete tower was completely new. However, Plymouth is portrayed by many as the “ocean city” of the UK as the spectacular backdrop onto the Plymouth Sound from sights like the Hoe,

shown by Fig 2. This is true in some ways as it is not commonplace being in the centre of a city that you would hear the calls of seagulls and be within 15 minutes’ walk of a marina that used to be the port

where the first British travellers left to explore the Earth and the “New World” (Jones and Garde-Hansen 2012) (Fig3 and 4). In other context this is not true because the only part of Plymouth that represents the “Ocean City” is the seafront, a very small area of Plymouth with the rest representing typical features of an urban settlement- CBD, City centre, outer suburbs etc. Overall, the initial relocation from home to Plymouth has made Plymouth become a new home to me, as the pleasant urban environment can so quickly become a peaceful coastal location with the sea being 15 minutes away, and ferries to tranquil locations such as Mount Batten and Mount Edgecombe. Therefore, prior to my research of auto-ethnography and critical image analysis, Plymouth had a “sense of place” as a concrete jungle with the elements and characteristics of a coastal landscape.

Figure 2-The Plymouth Sound from the Hoe- Obtained from the Plymouth "Book of Wonder"

Figure 4-The Mayflower Steps, the origins of 16 million Figure Americans whose ancestors departed for the Americas from these very steps in 1620. Obtained from Plymouth’s Book of Wonder.

Figure 3- The Plymouth Barbican- A combination of cultural naval heritage preserved and rebranded as a modern tourist destination. Obtained from Plymouth’s Book of Wonder.


Having undertaken the tour of Plymouth which featured areas such as Armada Way, Union Street, Drakecircus Shopping Centre and the seafront (The Hoe and the Barbican), I found that the areas featured within the tour brought upon mixed emotions and feelings of positive, and negative, aura. For example, some of these emotions were reminders of my previous home, Stafford, as areas such as Union Street (see Fig 5) and St Georges Street, with its Pannier Market, showed signs of deprivation-closed shops, unoccupied buildings-and a negative aura of uncomfortable feelings. Stafford was a town suffering

from the economic downturn of 2008 and has since struggled to regain its prospective High Street and shopping areas, leading to signs of deprivation which in particular streets such

as Union Street in Plymouth, can be foreboding and uncomfortable(these feelings were enhanced by the weather which, at times, I experienced torrential rain). However, an area that almost surprisingly brought emotions of comfort and content (affected by being a shelter from the poor weather) was Drakecircus Shopping Centre. Drakecircus Shopping Centre was built in 2006 and is a key icon of the city, but had unintentional impacts of causing deprivation in the outer suburbs of Plymouth as smaller shops went out of business due to people doing their shopping in Drakecircus, leading to development gaps and deprivated streets such as Union Street (Gould J, 2008). This together with areas such as the Seafront bring about the emotions of comfort and belonging that make Plymouth feel like my new home, and that Stafford will remain as my home of birthplace and childhood which explains the concept of “place” as a location of home(Plymouth), and “place” as a location of ancestry and childhood(Stafford).

From critically analysing images from Plymouth’s Book of Wonder, Plymouth is a city that was almost destroyed by World War shelling; but has successfully rebranded itself to become an “Ocean City” with cultural heritage of having the first travellers to explore Earth and the Americas, and conserving naval heritage through areas such as Royal William Yard- a former naval base now rebranded into residential and deluxe restaurants- that seal its sense of place as an ocean city through successful use of place

marketing to make it more appealing to people from within, and outside, of the UK.

Figure 5-Union Street, Plymouth. Obtained from my phone during the tour.

Figure 7-Drakecirucs Shopping Centre- Built in 2006, a key icon of Plymouth's redevelopment since the end of the Second World War.

Figure 8-The Seafront of Plymouth. With the weather improving, Plymouth began to show its true beauty which brought upon feelings of peace and belonging, like Plymouth was now my true home, and Stafford my home of childhood. Obtained from my phone during the tour.

Figure 6- St George's Square. An area of deprivation which characterises Plymouth's deprivated West End compared to its prospective City Centre. Obtained from my phone during the tour.


Conclusion

To conclude this report, through auto-ethnographic research and critical image analysis; “place”, “sense of place” and commodification of “place”, together with my personal experience of Plymouth; Plymouth is an “Ocean City” that has cultural heritage of naval and travelling history, together with the characteristics of a modern urban city/landscape. The “sense of place” created from these combinations mean that as a student I experience a contrast of living in a “concrete jungle” but with the fascinating sounds of a coastal environment with ships, seagulls and city-centre traffic, with the sight and smell of the seafront being just 15 minutes’ walk away. Though few people are aware of what a unique place Plymouth is, the council is affectively promoting the city through effective “place marketing”, pinpointing areas such as Royal William Yard, the seafront, and Drakecircus; but behind the dream picture, is the areas of deprivation that has been left behind: The West End with Union Street and St Georges Square just two examples of this. This sense of imbalance between these areas of deprivation and home and comfort are the challenge that Plymouth must solve to maintain its status as an “Ocean City”.

References

Anderson L 2006 Analytic Autoethnography Journal of Contemporary Ethnography Vol 35(4) pp 373-395 Sage Publications, USA.

Bradshaw M et.al 2012 An Introduction to Human Geography Edition 4 Pearson PLC, UK.

2009 Corris Mine Explorers, accessed via: www.corrismineexplorers.co.uk Gould J 2008 Plymouth: City of the Welfare State in the 21st Century The

Challenge of Change: Dealing with the Legacy of Modern Movement. Edited by van den Heuval D et.al IOS Press BV, Netherlands.

Hay R 1998 Sense of place in Developmental Context Journal of Environmental Psychology Vol 18(1) pp 5-29. ScienceDirect, Elsevier B.V, Netherlands.

Harold M, Abbe K, Kaminoff R 1983 Place-Identity: Physical world socialization of the self Journal of Environmental Psychology Vol 3(1) pp 57-83. ScienceDirect, Elsevier B.V, Netherlands.

Figure 9- Royal William Yard. A spectacle of the preservation of Plymouth's naval history and successfull rebranding. Obtained from Plymouth’s Book of Wonder.

http://www.corrismineexplorers.co.uk/


Jenkins O 1999 Understanding and Measuring Tourist Destination Images International Journal of Tourism and Research Vol 1 pp 1-15. John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. UK

Jones O and Garde-Hansen J 2012 Geography and Memory: Explorations in Identity, Place and Becoming. Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Publishers Limited, UK.

Richard P 2007 The Critical Thinking Community (Accessed at http://www.criticalthinking.org// )

Storey D 2006 Images of Rurality: Commodification and Place Promotion The Rural Citizen: Governance, Culture and Wellbeing in the 21st Century. Worcester Research and Publications, University of Worcester, UK.

2014 Plymouth’s Book of Wonder, Plymouth City Council, ISSUU.

Appendix

Figure 10- A map of the tour of Plymouth. Accessed from the Constructing Plymouth's Identity Handbook.

Figure 11-The Plymouth Seafront. "Plymouth is the best place to live in the country in terms of good schools, clean air, value and quality of housing and access to sparkling sea..."- The Guardian 2013. Obtained from the Plymouth Book of Wander.

http://www.criticalthinking.org//


Figure 12-The Plymouth Sound with Plymouth's Naval Heritage in fine sight. Obtained from my phone.

Figure 14-The Plymouth Sound. Plymouth, Britain's Ocean City, is a hotspot for marine experts and the Sound is one of the oldest continually studied stretches of water on earth. Obtained from the Plymouth Book of Wonder.

Figure 13-Plymouth Harbour and Seafront. Plymouth is one of the largest harbours in Europe. Obtained from the Plymouth Book of Wonder.

Figure 15- A panoramic of the Plymouth Sound. This picture describes the significance of "place" and "sense of place" for

Constructing Plymouth Identity

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