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  • Essay / Economic Geography of a Place - Niagara Falls

    Table of ContentsDiscover Niagara FallsHistory of Hydroelectricity in Niagara FallsClusters of Niagara FallsThe Creative ClassReferencesDiscover Niagara FallsNiagara Falls is a beautiful city located in the southeast of Ontario and on the border of a state called New York, United States. They are known for their giant and majestic waterfalls called Horseshoe Falls, American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls. These waterfalls are found along the Niagara River Canal which connects two large bodies of water, Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. The formation of the waterfall was the separation between the two lakes mentioned previously; however, both higher and lower water levels were drained onto the Niagara Escarpment. This geographic landscape has led to an increase in visitors since the 1800s, leading to the development of service sectors around the area for tourism purposes (Ross, 2017). Tourism has shaped the economy and explains why the city functions as it does today. This article will be divided into subheadings of key concepts that will help understand the city's economy. This article will expand on the history of hydropower and how the environment has been used as a source of economy, hospitality and tourism. With the environment being a key source for hospitality and tourism, this article will examine how these factors feed into the clusters in Niagara Falls and ultimately who is considered the creative class. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay History of Hydroelectricity in Niagara Falls Hydroelectric development of Niagara Falls began in 1748 with the waterwheels that were built and located on islands in the river. In 1881, a small generator was built to produce electricity in Niagara Falls. After that, there was an initial plan to build a tunnel for the individual plants already built on site, but officials from the Niagara Falls Power Company (American) wanted to seek additional advice on how to acquire useful hydraulic knowledge. The idea of ​​the Sir Adam Beck Power Station construction project came to fruition, with the aim of making it a huge power station for electricity. This project plan had never been built before, so Niagara Falls Power Company first needed to secure mechanical parts such as turbines and generators. It was not until 1895 that electricity was brought to the city itself, and later to Buffalo (a city in upstate New York, United States). The energy produced by the first Sir Adam Beck No. 1 hydroelectric plant project was used to manufacture aluminum (McIntyre, 1952). Growth and demand increased after World War II and the need to generate electricity for local industries and homes increased. Sir Adam Beck No. 2 was built right next to Sir Adam Beck No.1 in 1950, but began generating electricity until 1954. Understanding how hydroelectricity began in Niagara Falls, as we As we learned from Coe, Kelly and Yeung's text, the commodification of the environment in the city can be analyzed in more detail. Hydropower is a producer-driven chain, where Niagara Falls started with water mills and evolved into a giant power plant that would produce electricity. This helped acquire highly skilled workers through the machinery and technology used in the construction process of two power plants. Overall, the construction ofHydroelectric projects create part-time and full-time jobs in different sectors such as construction, manufacturing and natural resources. These jobs contribute to labor costs which have an economic impact on the city in terms of revenue and capital invested. Institutions from Canada and the United States are involved in the Sir Adam Beck Projects No. 1 and No. 2 (from which hydroelectricity would be produced) due to the changing geographic landscape on the Niagara River. The water used for the stations came from the Niagara River which divides Canada and the United States. Again, hydropower is used to produce electricity called hydropower through the construction of hydroelectric power stations which require both a dam and a reservoir to store the river water. The water pressure pushes the turbines to turn the aligned margins to charge the electricity. Thanks to recent research, science considers hydropower as a renewable energy source, commonly used to produce electricity from water. Over the years, energy has moved away from non-renewable resources such as oil and coal and researchers are discovering that renewable sources such as wind, solar and hydroelectric power are more beneficial in the long term for consumption human. prosperity, including how innovation in a social process that often involves clusters, will also be included for ease of understanding. A cluster can be defined as groups of interconnection service providers and institutions. Clusters create relationships through sociability between people and technologies. In Coe, Kelly and Yeung's text, consumption clusters are discussed as consumer services such as bars, restaurants and cultural services. Tourists often tend to influence this type of cluster. The main hubs of Niagara Falls revolve around hospitality and tourism which have shaped the way the city functions. The area is known for its wineries, festivals, and lakeshores that welcome tourists with hotels and entertainment (Gertler, n.d.). Over the years, tourism has increased and Niagara Falls has created many attractions for visitors to enjoy. For example, the falls boat tour is a tourist attraction, where it carries a certain number of passengers and lasts 30 minutes. This attraction was called Maid of the Mist in the 1800s, but in 2014 it was transformed into the Hornblower Cruise (Shi, Rosszell, 2016). Another popular attraction with visitors is the street called Clifton Hill. It is a diverse neighborhood, where you can find restaurants such as Boston Pizza or Kelsey's and take the Niagara Skywheel tour or Ripley's Believe it or not Museum (Shi, Rosszell, 2016). If the tourist wants something more relaxing and not too busy, they have the option of going to the wineries, walking along Niagara-on-the-Lake or even going to the mall. It is clear that the urban economy is based on the consumption of different tourist attractions. According to Statistics Canada's Canada Tourism Satellite Account (CTSA), in 2017, 13 million visitors generated $2.4 billion in tourism spending, of which 65% were Canadian, 27.3% American and 7.7%. foreigners. Attractions are a strategy to persuade visitors to spend their money. Given the number of inbound tourists, Niagara Falls must keep pace with product and process innovations within its region and industries. An innovation that continues togetting better is renewable energy hydroelectricity which has already been mentioned in the historic Niagara Falls subsection. These startups have additional ties to education such as Universities (Brock) and Niagara Colleges which have 3 different campuses in the region that offer more training programs, research networks and business partners. Students are committed to developing skills that will help the future workforce. The Creative Class Niagara Falls began as a natural landscape, but over time it became more humanized, attracting a variety of visitors. This sparked interest among engineers and entrepreneurs to consider the future of Niagara Falls in water power (McGreevy, 1987). Being a civil or mechanical engineer would be used to develop hydroelectric power and would be responsible for maintaining mechanical technology and overseeing performance. The salary of an engineer involved in the hydropower workplace, receives a high salary of around $80,000 per year. This is an example of a creative class in Niagara Falls. Richard Florida argues that the creative class tends to cluster in centers that are economically prosperous and offer a quality of work attractive to workers. In this case, the creative class can be used to understand how the creative core of engineers and entrepreneurs provides a wide range of creative professionals working in high-tech sectors. These engineers are paid for their creative results and their way of thinking. However, as you already know, the main hub of the city of Niagara Falls is hospitality and tourism. Hotel staff, waiters, and customer service workers are not part of the idea of ​​the creative class. The reason they are not considered a creative class is because they are paid for what they do. They do not add value to the economy through creativity and it is the workers who receive the minimum wage. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay In conclusion, the economy of Niagara Falls can be understood through the history of hydroelectricity, hospitality and tourism that fuel the clusters, as well as the concept of the creative class. Niagara Falls started with its beauty and transformed energy into other means of generating economy. Niagara Falls offers society and tourism the opportunity to benefit from a transportation network including roads, water and rail. Competition between business development, industrial and commercial real estate, art and culture, and recreational opportunities. With the high level of visitors, how can Niagara Falls further research into the relationship between capitalism and the environment? The environment is so critical to Niagara Falls because of the large amount of hydroelectricity, which is a clean, renewable energy source, that is capable of producing and the way it is distributed between Canada and the United States. United. Tourism statistics are increasing every year, with the share of these clusters called hospitality and tourism consuming the amount of hydropower produced. ReferencesCoe, NM, Kelly, PF and Yeung, HWC (2013). Economic geography a contemporary introduction. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Conheady, M. (n.d.). New York Falls. Electric power production in Niagara. Retrieved from http://nyfalls.com/niagara-falls/faq5/Desrochers, R., Montour, I., Grégoire, A., Choteau, J. and Turmel, E. (2011). OPPORTUNITIES FOR JOB CREATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE CANADIAN HYDROELECTRICITY MARKET./