WHAT IS THE LOCAL SCALE? - GEOGRAPHY - 2025

The local scale is a concept that has several applications in different sciences. In general, it can be defined as a level associated with a very specific area, generally geographic or at least physically delimitable. This area is characterized by being part of a whole that contains it and is much larger.

If we observe our planet from space, we can admire a blue globe and think that it is a homogeneous whole, a unit whose properties are similar in each of its parts.

However, we know that this is not what happens in reality. Our planet is made up of many elements that interact with each other, and what happens in each of its parts, to a greater or lesser extent, affects the rest.

In this way, we can analyze the causes and consequences of the phenomena that occur on earth, either by observing what happens on the planet in general, or also what happens in a particular region.

Concepts to explain the social scale

When we dedicate ourselves to describing phenomena that take place in the world, for example, the increase in temperature of our planet, we say that we are dealing with a subject on a larger scale or on a global scale. We are describing the consequences of a situation that is generally experienced in every part of the globe.

If, on the other hand, we concentrate on a problem in a community, for example, the lack of a sewage system for a sector of the population of a city, we are reducing the margin of the description of the problem posed, we limit it locally to a sector of a population, and it is said that we are dealing with a problem on a local scale.

Similarly, if we have a map, we can see if the scale at which it is drawn is global or local. Generally a map of the world is made on a global scale and a map of a street or sector of the city is on a local scale.

The latter has more details such as street name, building, direction of movement, geographical accident, etc. whereas a world map has much less detail, and factors such as borders, names of main cities, modeling of the coasts, mountainous reliefs etc. are highlighted.

Local scale in geography

Geography is defined as the study of the physical characteristics of the earth's surface and atmosphere and how they are affected by human activities.

When we study geography on a local scale, we soak up concepts such as the topography of a locality, the environmental patterns of that place, the behavior of a river, the urban development of the place, etc.

At the bottom you can see the scale of the town of San Cristóbal de la Barranca.

However, when studying these factors, we realize that they are closely related and are a consequence of global factors, because as previously said, everything is related.

In this sense, the local topography depends on the tectonic movements of plates, the climate of a place is a consequence of the global climate, the course of the river also related to global climatic factors, urban or demographic development is a consequence of national and international activities, etc.

If we look at a map, we can detail the types of scale it has. Typically two scales are used, a graph that places a line whose length represents an amount in meters, kilometers, or another unit of distance, equivalent to the actual distance on the given map. Thus the user can get an idea of ​​the actual longitude represented on the map.

Another type of scale is the numerical one. With it, only the proportion of the real site that is represented on the map is captured, for example, 1:50 scale implies that the drawing is drawn 50 times smaller than the real one.

Local scale in health

When health problems are placed on the table, it is necessary to delimit the scope of both the subject to study, and the impact that some diseases may have on the human population. Geographical factors, natural barriers, air currents, etc. play an important role.

If the incidence of a disease is evaluated, then it is studied from different approaches: at the local level, the impact and effects on a population, the care of those affected, the supply of medicines, etc.

Distribution of the areas affected in Ciudad Juárez by dengue (2005).

If it is a virus, then the migratory movements of both human beings and animal species that can spread it play an important role.

Geographical factors are taken into account, as well as geopolitical divisions (municipalities, states, countries).

Local scale in politics

The state policies that the countries take into account in the execution of their development plans come hand in hand with the scales at which they are carried out.

Regardless of the borders or geographical features of a region, development plans are focused from the local or regional, which impacts on a small area, to the national and international with relations between neighboring countries or surrounding countries.

In this order of ideas, the local authorities (councilors, mayors, governors) are the guarantors of the execution of the development plans of their areas, which are given from the senior national officials who have previously carried out the national development plan.

Depending on the degree of autonomy of the region, these plans can be executed and obtain resources from the same region or they can be derived from a national budget and be subject to a macro development plan.

It should be said that each development plan is influenced by the needs and characteristics, not only of the population and the affected area, but also of the surrounding areas, because as in other meanings of the concept of locality, communities are not isolated entities but They interact in many ways with their environment.

Similarly, when considering the development plans of a region, the timelines for the same are taken into account.

Development plans are established for a short, medium and long term, and take into account the possible changes resulting from the political alternation of the leadership, the duration and origin of the economic resources to carry them out, and other factors of interest.

References

1. Differences in cartographic representation at local, national and world scales. Recovered from: beatrizgeografia.blogspot.com.
2. Global, Local & Regional Geography. Recovered from: study.com.
3. The local, national and world scales. Recovered from: sites.google.com.
4. Pillet, F. (2008). The scales of space: from the global to the local Scripta Nova. Electronic Journal of Geography and Social Sciences. Barcelona, ​​University of Barcelona.
5. The 'Local' and the 'Global' - Scale. Recovered from: core.human.cornell.edu.