WHAT IS REGIONALIZATION? MOST RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS - GEOGRAPHY - 2025

The regionalization is the process of separating a territorial space into smaller fractions with a specific purpose. Depending on the use of this segmentation, both its process and its purpose may vary.

In the case of territorial political spaces such as countries or states, it can be done to divide a country into states, departments or municipalities.

The 4 main types of regionalization

1- Political and geographic regionalization

It is about the division of a territorial political space into smaller fractions; for example, the division of the African continent into each of the independent nations that make it up, or the division of Peru into all its departments.

It is done with the intention of decentralizing a territory by creating autonomous and more localized fractions. This is especially useful when implementing government policies, because it allows you to increase the focus to a particular region.

This type of regionalization, also known as decentralization, allows each jurisdiction (call it a state, entity or department) to have its own authorities serving local needs.

2- Agricultural and production regionalization

It is the separation of a territory into smaller areas based on its agricultural and livestock capacities, natural resources or production.

Some countries have exclusively mining areas where it is not cultivated, while others are dedicated exclusively to the agricultural and livestock sector.

For example, in Venezuela the Guayana region is in the south of the country and is dedicated almost exclusively to mining extraction and metallurgical production.

On the other hand, the western region and the plains are livestock and agricultural, and the main industrial producers are in the central region.

3- Biogeography and ecology

The division of the territory according to the distribution of its species and ecosystems is called biogeography.

It is directly related to ecology and takes into account geology, topography and soils in conjunction with vegetation, climatic conditions and living species.

For example, the tops of the tepuis in South America are completely isolated from the surrounding humid tropical forests.

This turns these peaks into ecological islands, with their own climates and even flora and fauna that only exist in that area and nowhere else.

Other meanings

In some cases, regionalization may not refer to the segmentation of a territory, but of a product to adapt it to a territory.

For example, in marketing it is common for a brand to create different versions of a product for a particular market.

Such is the case in India, where beef is not consumed for religious reasons, but there are still fast food places with menus adapted to the region.

Language regionalization is also known as the process of internationalization and linguistic localization of software, texts or audiovisual content.

It can be seen in the differences that exist between the translations of books from English to Spanish, which tend to have a version for Spain and at least one for Latin America.

Another example is computer programs, which can have specific translations for the markets of Mexico, Spain, Argentina and the United States, to name just a few.

References

1. Organization of American States - Criteria and antecedents of regionalization: oas.org
2. Foundations of Regionalization - Administrative Regionalization in Venezuela: saavedraregion.blogspot.com
3. National Commission for the Knowledge and Use of Biodiversity - Regionalization: conabio.gob.mx
4. Wikipedia - Regionalization: en.wikipedia.org
5. Wikipedia - Internationalization and localization: es.wikipedia.org