Perspectives

Ways of seeing the world that help explain differences in decisions about, responses to, and interactions with environments. Perspectives are bodies of thought, theories or worldviews that shape people’s values and have built up over time. They involve people’s perceptions(how they view and interpret environments) and viewpoints (what they think) about geographic issues. Perceptions and viewpoints are influenced by people’s values (deeply held beliefs about what is important or desirable).

The way in which people view and interpret environments (perceptions) or what they think about geographic issues (viewpoints), are usually the result of their background, experiences or involvement with environments or issues. People’s perceptions and viewpoints can, and often do, change over time.

For example, people may have very different viewpoints about the reconstruction of Christchurch. This might relate to the effects on themselves or others, specific places and environments, or planning processes.

Perspectives are bodies of thought, theories, or worldviews that shape people’s values. Understanding different perspectives gives students the capacity to critique and challenge these taken-for-granted ways of understanding the world.

For example, people’s longer-term responses to the effects of the Canterbury earthquakes may be shaped by different perspectives. From a scientific perspective, they might be concerned with how seismic data could be used to better predict future events, and reduce vulnerability. Someone coming from a social justice perspective might ask: what kinds of political, social, and economic inequalities made some people more vulnerable than others? How could these be addressed?

‘Geographic perspectives’ also refers to how knowledge is organised and understood differently in the discipline, and the varying lenses that may be used when undertaking geographic research. These theoretical perspectives have labels such as ‘gender geography’ ‘feminist geography’, ‘new cultural geography’, ‘post-modern geography’, ‘socially critical approaches’, and ‘Kaupapa Māori Geography’ – but these are not the only ones.

Values

Values are deeply held beliefs about what is important and desirable in relation to environments or geographic issues. Understanding values can help explain why people have certain perceptions or hold particular viewpoints. There are different kinds of values, such as moral, social, cultural, aesthetic, and environmental.

For example, a variety of values might inform people’s statements about Christchurch’s future: a desire for social cohesion, economic growth, ecological values, spiritual values, cultural values, and so on.

political, economic, cultural, religious, environmental.