Using the data in the table provided, what can you say about the ethnicity of the population in the national parks of England and Wales.

Using the data in the table provided, what can you say about the ethnicity of the population in the national parks of England and Wales.

There are 5 main ethnic groups and 18 sub groups represented in table 1. Using the data in the table provided you can see that the majority of people who use the national parks of England and Wales are white - English, with other - black being the least amount of people to use the national parks.
From the table you can see Northumberland national park is the least visited park with only 1,993 people visiting the majority being white English people visiting, only a few white irish, white and black Caribbean, other white, other mixed, Pakistani, Chinese, other Asian, African and Arab people visiting and no people from the following subgroups visit this national park, white gypsy, white and black African, white and Asian, Indian, Bangladeshi, Caribbean, other black and any other ethnic group.
However South Downs national park has the highest amount of visitors, the majority again being white English and the least amount being other black.
The ethnic group white English is the highest population visiting the 13 national parks of England and Wales with 382,731 people from this ethnic group and other black being the minority with only 94 people.
To conclude while this table gives us a good idea of the collective identities of people who visit national parks it does not go into the reasoning behind the information, it is down to interpretation as to why one group have visited and another hasn 't.

Examine the argument that places can be a source of inclusion and exclusion for specific communities.

There are many different identities that people have for example a personal identity is a persons own unique identity, who you think you are - the real me. Identities of place refer to geographic locations and their meanings in relation to how people live, work, socialise and establish themselves in them. The way they effect the shaping of individual and collective identities plays an important part of who people think they are and who they become, which invariably has an impact on societies and how they function as a whole. In relation to this, this essay will look at social inclusions, which refer to people’s allocation to specific rights and social exclusion, which refers to disadvantages and inequalities in certain rights of groups or numbers of people. Whilst identities of place can provide inclusion for their inhabitants in regards to access to employment, healthcare, education and resources, they can also create exclusions with respect to housing, environment and status, which this essay will attempt to examine.

Between 1831 and 1841 Manchester’s population grew by 71 %, causing it to be described as the ‘shock city’ of its time (Briggs, 1990). Industrialisation drove large numbers of people from the countryside into the city, hopeful perspectives for better incomes and with that better lives were giving people all the reasons necessary to take this drastic step. With increasing numbers of inhabitants and decreasing space, life in the cities changed for many families and individuals. Although the city provided a wide spectrum of opportunities to the broader public in respect to employment, ways of life, environment and connections people made with each other as well as with the space and things they were surrounded by and had to deal or engage with on a day to day basis ( Steve Hinchcliffe, Making Social Lives, 2009, p. 212), it also gave room for certain exclusions amongst groups of people. For example, as described by Friedrich Engels (Engels, 2005, [1845]), a clerk who came to work in Manchester in the 1840s, some of the living spaces that gave shelter to the lower working class held many health hazards for its residents, cholera, various other infectious viral diseases and many sorts of bacteria were flourishing in the narrow back roads of the cheaper houses due to poor ventilation and sanitation as well as high pollution. Low wages or unemployment left some people with no choice but to live in these areas of the city, whilst those with higher incomes could afford to live at least more comfortably and healthily. This new identity of place therefore carried in itself inclusions for the wider population but also exclusions for some groups of people, limiting them to only a few ways of existences and identities to live with and develop in.

Social inclusion and exclusion are associated with identities of place in various aspects such as people’s access to employment, housing, health and services. These are influenced by the geographical locations, environments and available resources of different places alongside other factors that make up a populace. The places that people live in and the way they live in them, are important factors in shaping their individual and collective identities, inclusion or exclusion can have positive or negative influences on these identities as well as either creating ways for them to develop or limiting them to only a number of possible changes.
Living and fulfilling personal ideas of identity can be restricted by the area in which people find themselves and the surroundings and facilities that come with them. The identity attached to a place will have an impact on people’s connections or disconnections. Indeed, social identities, which are linked to places as well as other identities, and a person’s own racial and ethnic identity, can all have a direct impact on the inclusion and exclusion of people, because it creates positively or negatively marked and unmarked identities. Furthermore, the stereotypes and the idealised and imagined past attached to some places can directly influence people’s identity, and can make people feel welcome or out of place. In many ways, locations will affect our individual identity and determine how we are included or excluded from parts of society.
The idea of racial and ethnic identities can be linked to identity of place (p.181). These are collective identities, often negatively valued, and often refer to immigrants or colonised. Racial and ethnic identities are often exaggerated by stereotypes, which will lead such identities to be marked negatively. These identities can be seen as identities of place, because it is usually the ‘where we come from’ that will determine our racial and ethnic identity, and how the latest is viewed by others. What often leads to these identities being negatively valued is closely linked to the historical and cultural identity of a place.

References
Engels, F. (2005 [1985]) the condition of the working class in England, London, Penguin.
Hinchcliffe, S. (2009) ' connecting people and places '
Taylor, S. Hetherington, K. Clarke, J. and Bromley, S. (eds) Making social lives, Milton Keynes, The open University.

References: Engels, F. (2005 [1985]) the condition of the working class in England, London, Penguin. Hinchcliffe, S. (2009) ' connecting people and places ' Taylor, S. Hetherington, K. Clarke, J. and Bromley, S. (eds) Making social lives, Milton Keynes, The open University.