Local living and psycho-geography

NTS, BSA and Newspaper Society research show how close to home work, shopping, leisure and family remain today.

Despite massive increases in driving distance and foreign travel, day-to-day life still happens within a 'magic circle' that extends no further than 15 miles from home. The simple practical limits of mobility guarantee that locality will remain vital, as much as any reaction to globalisation or extension of ethical concerns.

However, while geographic and geo-demographic approaches allow us to understand the character of areas and individuals living in them, administrative boundaries rarely correspond to subjective localities.

An approach we might call 'psycho-geography' is needed (with apologies to Debord for appropriating the term). Local media providers, service providers and retailers need to understand how the boundaries of 'my local area' and 'my community' are actually perceived, not how they are drawn on the map - and remember that consumers' lives are often rooted in multiple localities.

Marketing Week 19 June 2008