Sphere Of Influence

What are positive spheres of influence?

- Geographical features can have both good and bad impacts on their surroundings: * E.g. view across urban park can increase desirability of a residential area so causes house prices to rise

What are retail spheres of influence?

- Large retailers and out-of-town stores can impact on neighbouring shops - creating competition which creates lower price (positive impact) but could lead to shop vacancies (negative impact)

Do features of the physical environment also have a sphere of influence?

- Storms, river floods and coastal flooding all have impacts on people and the economy: * Impacts can be mapped and influence will tend to decrease with distance - Transects could be used to plot land uses and vulnerability with increasing distance from a river or coastline

How to spheres of influence decay over space?

- The extent of a sphere of influence varies: - Fast food restaurant may create noise nuisance in late evening - only locals affected - Major airport will have a much larger sphere of influence.

What are negative spheres of influence?

- Traffic on a busy urban street can have negative impacts: * Traffic noise * Parking problems for local residents * Safety issues - Negative impacts created by traffic may be one factor that can help depress house prices

How can I collect physical and human data?

1) Investigating visitor impacts on a landmark or honeypot site: - Spatial extent of the positive impacts: *Where do visitors stay? * Where do they spend money? - Spatial extent of the negative impacts: * Footpath erosion * Parking issues * Litter 2) Transects could be used to investigate the extent of trampling at increasing distance from a car park or visitors' centre: Human Data - flows of walkers, questionnaires / extended interviews Physical Data - width of footpath, vegetation type and height

Do larger events create larger spheres of influence?

Larger events, with larger crowds, will tend to impact on a larger area - Transects away from the event could be used to analyse the extent of the sphere of influence Positive Impacts: * Increased trade for local pubs, cafes, hotels and B&Bs Negative Impacts: * Extra traffic * Parking problems * Increased prices in hotels * Possible noise nuisance * Litter * Anti-social behaviour

What are large spheres of influences and where are they located?

London: * Attracts economic migrant * Creates pollution * Influencing patterns of commuting and house prices * Staging major sporting/cultural events - London has an international sphere of influence

How do events create spheres of influence?

Some businesses benefit from the extra visitors however other shops may do less business because of restricted traffic