Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
is far from realized. In 1997, the U.S. government commissioned a barrier divid-
ing Nogales, Arizona, from Nogales, Mexico. The
New York Times
reported that
the architecture fi rm that designed the wall followed government require-
ments that it be aesthetically pleasing to “evoke the friendship” between the
two countries while also making it “resistant to physical assault by means such
as welding torches, chisels, hammers, fi rearms, climbing over or penetration
with vehicles.” Illegal immigrants go to great lengths to fi nd their way into the
United States; and similarly, the U.S. government goes to great lengths to deter
illegal immigration.
In this chapter, we examine various types of migration and question why
migrants choose to leave a particular place and why they go to another. We also
examine the barriers governments erect to slow human migration, questioning
why government policies shift and how policies affect migration fl ows. By employ-
ing geographic concepts such as scale in our analysis of human migration, we seek
to shed light on the nature and meaning of migration fl ows and to gain an appre-
ciation for why people migrate, where they migrate, and how people, places, and
landscapes change as a result of movement.
Key Questions
For Chapter 3
1.
What is migration?
2.
Why do people migrate?
3.
Where do people migrate?
4.
How do governments affect migration?
WHAT IS MIGRATION?
Movement is inherently geographical. Movement
changes people, as well as the way they see themselves
in the world. Movement changes places, including the
places the people left and the places where they go.
Human movement speeds the diffusion of ideas and
innovations; it intensifi es spatial interaction and trans-
forms regions; and it is often closely linked to environ-
mental conditions.
The movement of humans takes several forms.
Mobility ranges from local to global—from the daily to
once in a lifetime. Mobility has increased markedly over
the last century. With greater mobility, people broaden
their perspectives and widen the horizons of others, thus
encouraging further mobility. All movement involves
leaving home. The three types of movement we discuss in
this section vary based on time away from home.
Cyclic
movement
involves shorter periods away from home;
periodic movement
involves longer periods away from
home; and
migration
involves a degree of permanence
the other two do not: with migration, the mover may
never return “home.”
Cyclic Movement
Cyclic movement involves journeys that begin at our
home base and
bring us back to it
. The great majority of
people have a daily routine that takes them through a reg-
ular sequence of short moves within a local area. These
moves create what geographers call
activity spaces
. The
scale of activity space varies across societies. You may go
to classes every weekday and perhaps to a job as well, cre-
ating a relatively confi ned and stable activity space, diver-
sifi ed by shopping trips and social activities.
Commuting
is also a cyclic movement. Commuting—
the journey from home to work and home again—takes
from minutes to hours and can involve several modes
of transportation. The average North American com-
muter travels a greater distance each day than the average
Chinese villager does in a year. Advances in transporta-
tion technology have expanded daily activity spaces. Cars
and vast infrastructure enable people to commute over
long distances. In Washington, D.C., commuters com-
bine use of their cars, commuter trains, and the metro to
travel upwards of 100 miles each way, each day, commut-
ing not only from the surrounding suburbs, but also from
