What does Changing Places cover in Eduqas A-Level Geography?

Changing Places is the compulsory Section B of Component 1. It is built around three big ideas: place concepts (the space-place distinction, the dynamic nature of place, sense of place, and endogenous and exogenous factors), relationships and connections (insideness and outsideness, near and far places, globalisation), and meaning and representation (how places are represented through formal quantitative and informal qualitative sources). It also covers demographic and socio-economic change and the rebranding and regeneration of places.

How many places do I have to study, and which?

Eduqas requires the in-depth study of two contrasting places, normally one local (often your own area, used for fieldwork) and one far or distant place that contrasts with it. For both you study their demographic, socio-economic and cultural characteristics, how and why they have changed over time, and how they are represented, using both quantitative data (census, deprivation indices, geospatial data) and qualitative sources (media, interviews, photographs).

How is Component 1 assessed?

Component 1 (Changing Landscapes and Changing Places) is a written paper of 1 hour 45 minutes worth 82 marks, 20.5 per cent of the A level. Section A is Changing Landscapes (your chosen physical option) and Section B is the compulsory Changing Places. Questions mix structured, data-response and extended-response items using maps, photographs and both quantitative and qualitative sources, so reading and evaluating representations (AO3) matters alongside knowledge and judgement.

What is the difference between endogenous and exogenous factors?

Endogenous factors originate within a place and give it its internal character: location, topography and physical geography, the built environment and infrastructure, and demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Exogenous factors originate outside the place and connect it to the wider world: flows of people, capital, resources and ideas. The two interact, so a place's character is the product of internal features reshaped by external flows over time.

What are the most common mistakes in Changing Places?

Treating place as fixed rather than dynamic; confusing endogenous (internal) and exogenous (external) factors; treating media representations as objective fact rather than selective and purposeful; using only quantitative data when both quantitative and qualitative sources are required; describing demographic data without explaining the process behind it; and assuming regeneration benefits everyone when it often gentrifies and displaces the existing community.

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Eduqas A-Level Geography Changing Places (Component 1, Section B): a deep dive on place concepts, connections, representation and regeneration

A deep-dive Eduqas A-Level Geography guide to Changing Places (Component 1, Section B). Covers place concepts and the space-place distinction, relationships and connections, meaning and representation, demographic and socio-economic change, and rebranding and regeneration, with the two-contrasting-places requirement, UK examples and the exam patterns Eduqas repeats.

Generated by Claude Opus 4.818 min readA110QSUpdated 2026-06-02

Reviewed by: AI editorial process; not yet individually human-reviewed

Jump to a section

What this section actually demands
Place concepts and meaning
Relationships, connections and representation
Demographic and socio-economic change
Rebranding and regeneration
How this section is examined
Check your knowledge

What this section actually demands

Changing Places is the compulsory Section B of Component 1, and it is the human counterpart to the physical landscape option. Eduqas builds it around three big ideas, place concepts, relationships and connections, and meaning and representation, and insists that scale is at the heart of the component, so everything is studied from local to global. The demand is to understand what makes a space a place, why place is dynamic, how places connect to one another, how they are represented, and how their demographic and socio-economic character changes and is deliberately remade through regeneration. Crucially, you must ground all of this in two contrasting places studied in depth, using both quantitative and qualitative evidence.

This guide ties together the four dot-point pages for the section: place concepts and meaning, relationships connections and representation, demographic and socio-economic change, and rebranding and regeneration. Each has its own page with practice questions; this overview shows how they fit.

Place concepts and meaning

Space is location without meaning; place is a space invested with meaning, memory and emotional attachment. Place is dynamic, changing over time, and carries a sense of place that differs between insiders and outsiders. A place's character is shaped by endogenous factors (internal: location, topography, built environment, demography) and exogenous factors (external: flows of people, capital, resources, ideas), and the two interact across a range of scales.

Relationships, connections and representation

Places are connected by flows of people, money, ideas and goods. Insideness is the lived familiarity of belonging; outsideness the detached view of a visitor. Globalisation and time-space compression blur the near-far distinction, and most places are known through media representations that are selective and can stereotype. Places are represented through formal quantitative sources (census, maps) and informal qualitative ones (film, art, music), each a partial truth, and globalisation drives homogenisation (clone towns) against which glocalisation reasserts distinctiveness.

Demographic and socio-economic change

Places have measurable demographic characteristics (population, age structure, ethnicity) and socio-economic ones (employment, income, housing, deprivation), and these change over time. Change is driven by processes: migration, deindustrialisation, suburbanisation, counter-urbanisation, re-urbanisation and gentrification. Explaining change means linking a measured shift (an ageing population pyramid, falling incomes) to the process behind it, applied to the two contrasting places.

Rebranding and regeneration

Place-making deliberately reshapes a place's identity through rebranding (new image), re-imaging (new positive associations) and regeneration (physical, economic and social renewal). It involves players with different motives, government, developers and TNCs, communities and the media, and its outcomes are contested: renewal can bring jobs and pride but also gentrification and displacement, so the key question is always who benefits.

How this section is examined

A typical Eduqas profile for Changing Places:

Resource and representation skills (AO3). Read population pyramids, census data and media images, and contrast formal with informal representations.
Concept explanation (AO1). Define and apply space and place, endogenous and exogenous factors, insideness and outsideness.
Extended judgement (AO2). Rank the processes changing a place, or evaluate who benefits from regeneration, grounded in your two studied places.

Check your knowledge

A mix of questions covering the whole section. Attempt them under timed conditions, then check against the solutions.

Distinguish between space and place. (2 marks)
State one endogenous and one exogenous factor that shape a place. (2 marks)
Distinguish between insideness and outsideness. (2 marks)
Explain why media representations of a place should be read critically. (3 marks)
Define the term deindustrialisation. (2 marks)
Explain why a place's population might age over time. (3 marks)
Distinguish between rebranding and regeneration. (2 marks)
Explain why regeneration can lead to conflict between players. (3 marks)

Solutions

Q1: Space is location or extent considered abstractly, without meaning; place is a space invested with meaning, memory and emotional attachment, giving it a distinctive character.
Q2: Endogenous: any internal factor such as location, topography, built environment or demographic make-up. Exogenous: any external flow such as migration, capital investment or media ideas.
Q3: Insideness is the lived familiarity and belonging an insider (resident) feels; outsideness is the more detached, observing relationship of an outsider (visitor or newcomer).
Q4: They are selective and made for a purpose (to sell, inform, entertain or persuade), so they emphasise some features and omit others, can create stereotypes, and may differ from the lived reality residents experience.
Q5: The decline of manufacturing (secondary) industry in a place or country, reducing manufacturing employment and reshaping its economic and demographic character.
Q6: Out-migration of young working-age people, in-migration of older retirees, longer life expectancy and falling birth rates all raise the proportion of older residents, shifting the population pyramid upward.
Q7: Rebranding changes how a place is perceived by giving it a new image; regeneration is the physical, economic and social renewal of a declining place. Many schemes do both.
Q8: Players have different motives (government wants growth, developers want profit, communities want jobs and affordable housing), so they disagree over priorities and over who benefits, especially when gentrification displaces existing residents.