These arguments remind us that geography does indeed matter. In the
preface to an excellent sociological survey of globalization, Waters
(2001) argues: ‘The constraints of geography are shrinking and world
is becoming one place.’ While it cannot be disputed that compression is
occurring and that this has undermined the constraints of absolute space
to both socio-cultural and economic flows, this statement misinterprets
what is meant by ‘geography’, and ‘place’. The constraints of geography
are changing as space and scale are transformed; this creates new
geographies of old and new places, which are undoubtedly harder to
understand than ever before.