Climatic Regions The best one to know would be the Cool Temperate Oceanic climate of N.W. Europe. This is the climate of Ireland that we are all familiar with. The influence of distance from the sea, altitude, prevailing winds and the North Atlantic Drift on the climate should be noted. All of these mean that Ireland’s climate does not display extremes of temperature, has a wetter west than east, with the sunniest months in May and June. December is usually the dullest month.
Physical Regions The Karst region of Co. Clare is a good example (see Core Unit One, Statement 4).
Administrative Regions The counties of Ireland are obvious administrative regions in this country. Local government functions are carried out by the local authorities in these administrative regions. These functions include responsibility for fire-services, road maintenance, planning, waste disposal and public housing. A student could also look at administrative divisions abroad e.g. the Departments of France which is the French version of local government.
Cultural Regions These are usually associated with either language or religion. Obvious examples include the Gaeltacht region of Ireland, the French speaking south (Wallonia) and the Flemish speaking north (Flanders) of Belgium. On an international scale the Islamic World is often seen as a single cultural region despite many variations within this large area.
Socio-economic Regions Obvious choices here would be Core Regions which are major centres of growth, are highly developed, have an urban industrial base, are centres of decision making and attract workers, investment and raw materials (e.g. the Randstad; the Dublin Region). Peripheral Regions which have marginal locations, offer few job opportunities, have lower standards of living, suffer from out migration (the Mezzogiorno of S. Italy, the West of Ireland). The examples chosen in this section should be linked to the regions studied in the rest of this unit.
City/urban Regions. This includes the city and the area surrounding it (the hinterland). Irish cities and European examples such as London or Paris would be worth looking at here.
