urban images and stereotypes

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Stereotypes and Urban ImagesAuthor(s): Jacquelin A. BurgessSource: Area, Vol. 6, No. 3 (1974), pp. 167-171Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute ofBritish Geographers)

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Stereotypes and urban irmagesJacquelin A. Burgess, University of HullSummary. The existence of stereotypes within contemporary images of the environmentis discussed and a method for their identification presented.

There are two distinct approaches to the study of urban imagery. The morecommon interpretationhas been a structural one in which the relationshipbetween components of the individual's image and the city is revealed throughthe construction of mental maps whose separate features correspond to featureswithin the urban environment (e.g. Downs and Stea, 1971). The alternativeapproach is concerned more with the meaning of places to people and less

with their reduction to nodes, edges and paths. It focuses on the experiencesof the individual, and the image-as a necessary simplification of the cityreflects this unique experience.The language people use about places providesa valuable insight into this personal experience and the image may be studiedthrough their descriptions. It is through these descriptions of places thatstereotypes have the greatest potential for development. Stereotypes have beenrecognized as an important element in urban and regional perception althoughthe substantive research has been into historic perceptions of environment(e.g. Bowden, 1969). This paper represents an initial consideration of contemporary stereotypes and is illustrated by data from a research project intothe images of Kingston upon Hull.

A common definition of 'stereotype' is of an image containing distorted orerroneous information. Fishman (1956) suggests that the consensus amongsocial psychologists is that ' its contents are inferior, shoddy, " wrong" ideas '(p. 28) and should be changed. This view of stereotypes has evolved through thestudy of ethnic prejudice which has been concerned with the categorization ofsocial groups and the attribution of certain characteristics to individuals on thebasis of group membership (Cauthen, Robinson and Krauss, 1971). It is postulated that the stereotyped image has warped from an initial 'grain of truth'and this initial truth should be identified. However, the main stumbling blockin the argument about truthfulness has been the question of proof. Fishman(1956, p. 54)makes the point that stereotypes become autonomous preciselybecause their validity cannot be assessed. He is supported by Campbell (1969,p. 824) in his suggestion that the only way to substantiate or discredit thestereotype is by comparison with some objectively defined data set.

The stereotyping of places may be seen as the development of images whichfor the most part are generated from a number of secondary sources. ' Stereotypes appear to be learned by word of mouth or from books and films. These

media create a vast cultural matrix in which images can develop and persistirrespective of the reality they are supposed to represent.' (Karlins, Coffmanand Walters, 1969, p. 1). Superficially, the city would appear to offer theobjective reality against which the stereotyped image could be matched. However, this would be inappropriate for a conceptual position which maintainsthat stereotypes of places cannot be tested against the' reality 'they are supposedto represent since this reality is present only in other images of the place. Theresults given in this paper compare two images. One image is that given by the

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inhabitants of the city, the other is an image held by people who have no directexperience of the city. Neither image is defined as ' true ' or ' untrue': both arerepresentations of unique experiences. It is proposed that whereas the image is asimplication of environmental experience, the stereotyped image-highlightedby a less complex structure-represents an oversimplification.

Stereotypes may be measured by an adjectival checklist (hereafter ACL)which consists of a number of attributes presented to the respondent. Tomeasure the image of Hull an ACL was used in two questionnaire surveys. Onesurvey was of a random sample of the inhabitants of Hull (N= 180), the second

was a stratified random sample in other areas of England (N= 540). Forty-eightattributeswere included in theACL.1 The attributeswere presented in alphabeticorder and respondents were requested to tick as many, or as few of the wordswhich matched their impressions of Hull.

The images for two groups were compared. The inhabitants of Hull formedone group and 180 respondents from the English survey formed the secondgroup. These people have no personal knowledge of the city and have notconversed with anyone who may have visited Hull. It is expected that this groupwill possess a stereotyped image of the city. The results from the ACL are givenin Table 1, in which the total response for each attribute is expressed as apercentageof thenumberof respondents.The scores for the inhabitantsof Hull(Group A) have been ranked to establish which attributes are considered mostcharacteristicof thecity.Group B represents the scores from theEnglish survey.Views from insideand outsideThe image described by the inhabitants of the city is diverse. It contains traditional elements of the city-docks (81%), ships (65%) and fishy (58%) but theseare not considered the most characteristic, being interspaced with other attributes. The city is described as friendly (740%)and considered a good shoppingcentre (85%). There is agreement about features such as large council estates(75%), low wages (61%) and congested traffic (57%) which may be indicativeof dissatisfaction with the city. However, such a contention is not supported bythe use of more emotive terms, there are very low scores for attributes such ascharacterless (9%), depressed (13%) and drabness (14%). There would appearto be an element of civic pride perhaps, within the image-a lot of potential(47%) for example. The emphasis upon trees, parks (74%) and the descriptionof Hull as a garden city (52 %) reflects a preoccupation of the inhabitants whichis present inmuch of the local literature.

There is only limited correspondence between the scores of the two groups.The image given by group B is much less diverse. The most characteristicattributes of the city are docks (90%), ships (79%), fishy (75%) which havehigher scores than those given by the inhabitants. Apart from these, the mostcommon attributes are working class city (85%)-which is also consideredhighly characteristic by the people of Hull (84%)-heavy industry (67%),large council estates (59%), slums (63%), unemployment (57%) and cold (56%).There is a far greater emphasis upon the affective attributes in this imagedrabness (49%), grey (42%), characterless (39%). There are consistently higherscores for the last twenty attributes, many of which have unfavourableconnotations.

It has been proposed that if Group B possesses a stereotyped image of thecity it would be revealed in the restriction of attributes selected. This would


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Stereotypes and urban images 169

Table 1. The adjective checklist: attributes and resultsAttribute Group A Group BNumber Percentage Number Percentage

1. Good shopping centre 154 85 87 482. Working class city 152 84 154 853. Docks 147 81 162 904. Large council estates 136 75 109 595. Friendly 133 74 70 386. Trees, Parks 133 74 51 287. Ships 118 65 143 798. Low wages 111 61 53 299. Fishy 105 58 136 7510. Congested traffic 104 57 90 5011. Tower block flats 102 56 62 3412. Redevelopment 100 55 72 4013. Flat 96 53 76 4214. A garden city 94 52 5 215. Isolated 90 50 24 1316. Lot of potential 85 47 65 3617. Historic buildings 83 46 40 2218. Growing population 81 45 77 4319. Light industry 81 45 71 3920. Unemployment 70 38 104 5721. Strong local community 54 30 61 3322. Modern 54 30 46 2523. Heavy industry 53 29 121 6724. Rapid expansion 50 27 42 2325. Middle class suburbia 48 26 42 2326. Lots to do 46 25 50 2727. Slums 46 25 115 6328. Cold 46 25 102 5629. Secure 42 23 46 2530. Derelict 42 23 54 3031. Wide streets 42 23 33 1832. Poverty 40 22 51 2833. Boring 35 19 46 2534. Mediocre 30 16 37 2035. Grey 27 15 76 4236. Drabness 26 14 89 4937. Regional centre 26 14 42 2338. Depressed 24 13 77 4339. Overcrowded 24 13 80 4440. Aftluent 20 11 40 2241. Militancy 18 10 54 3042. Theatres 18 10 53 2943. Characterless 17 9 71 3944. Smoke 16 8 96 5345. Aggressive 16 8 48 2646. Cobbles 10 5 31 1747. Hilly 0 22 1248. Coalmines 0 27 15

(N=180 for both groups)provide support for the hypothesis that the stereotype is an oversimplificationof environmental experience. Oversimplification implies an element of distortion;lack of diversity and any distortion present in the image is revealed by differencesbetween the two sets of scores. The differences between the two scores on eachattribute were tested using Chi-square to see whether there were any which were


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170 Stereotypes and urban images

significantly different. Out of a total of 48 chi-square values, 22 werefound to be significantly different at the 0 01 level (with 1 d.f.). These are shownin Figure 1, which illustrates the distribution of the two sets of scores. Thepercentage score for each attribute is plotted on both axes. Four distinctclusters of attributes indicate the relationships between the two images. Cluster Ishows those attributes both groups consider characteristic of Hull: docks, ships,fishy, working class city and large council estates. There is also agreement overmiddle-range characteristics applicable to many places: redevelopment, lightindustry,and congested traffic.Cluster IV shows those attributes with lowscores in both images. The mixture of characteristics and contradictions amongthem, such as poverty and affluence, modern and derelict suggests they areinappropriate in the description of the city.

-1004Differ significontly Group Aat 0 010/. level (percent)-90

05

0 40j 60 70 80 90ro839g 1 (percent)

-370

37 39 ~ ~ ~ ~ 74060

*4~~~~~~~~~~4

Figure 1. The relationship between two images of Hull: stereotyped attributes.

The most interesting clusters are II and III containing attributes given a lowscore by one group and high by the other. The chi-square values highlight thesedifferences. Clusters II and III could be described as the stereotype dimension.The attributes in III represent those attributes considered characteristic bypeople with no experience of the city: unemployment, heavy industry, slums, cold,smoke and drabness. All are significantly different from the inhabitant's image.It is suggested that these attributes are associated with any industrial northerntown, they are words used in the description of these cities since the midl9th century. There is concurrence between the two images in the use of

working class city and large council estates. These also are part of the NorthernCity stereotype but they are also features which the inhabitants find characteristic of Hull.

There is another interesting aspect to these results. It has been shown thatthe city does possess an external stereotype but there are significant differences


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Stereotypes and urban images 171

among the attribute scores in cluster II. The characterization of Hull as agarden city by its inhabitants has been commented on. However, there are otherfeatures within this cluster which have the appearance of stylized responses,stylized in the sense that they are attributesmuch commented upon in the localliterature.This is illustrated by attributes such as isolatedwhich reflects thelong-standing concern over the Humber Bridge and historic buildingswhichreflects the emphasis in local ' folklore ' on the historic importance of the city.In conclusion, these resultshave shown thatHull is a citywith well-developedinternal and external images. The internal image is an amalgam of the inhabitants' experience which contains the essentials of the city and also illustratesthe importance of an awareness of local traditions in the assessment of urbanimages.The stereotype reveals the basic features of the city which are aspectsmost commented upon in the press and other media. Behind these, providingsubstance to the image, stands the ghost of theNorth Country Town revealed inall its 19th-century symbolism.

Notes and references1. The problem of enforced responses occurs with the use of an ACL. The attributes includedin thisACL were abstracted from three pieces of pilot research: a survey inEast Anglia usingopen-ended questions about the character of Hull; a local, open-ended questionnaire schedulefor the inhabitants of thecity; a place response test given to 64 students which took the form ofspontaneous adjectival responses to 32 stimulus place names, includingHull.

Bowden, M. J. (1969) The perception of theWestern Interior of theUnited States, 1800-1870:a problem of historical geography. Proc. Ass. Am. Geog, 1, 16-21.Campbell, D. T. (1967) Stereotypes and the perception of group differences, American Psychologist, 22, 817-29.Cauthen, N., Robinson, I., and Krauss, H. (1971) Stereotypes: a review of the literature1926-1968, Journal of Social Psychology, 84, 103-25.Downs, R. M. and Stea, D. (eds.) (1971) Cognitive Mapping: Images of Spatial Environment,Chicago: Aldine.Fishman, J. (1956) An examination of the process and function of social stereotyping, Journalof Social Psychology, 43, 27-64.Karlins, M., Coffman, T. L., and Walters, G. (1969) On the fading of social stereotypes:studies in threegenerations of college students, Journalof Personality and Social Psychology,13, 1-16.

Dudley Stamp and 20th IGC Awards, 1974The Royal Society has announced the 1974 list of geographers awarded grants underthe terms of theDudley Stamp Memorial Fund and the 20th International Geographical

Congress Fund.Dudley Stamp Memorial FundMiss J.Kinsey, University of Liverpool, forManufacturing industry in theBouches-du

Rhone (?50)Miss R. V. Lakin, Bedford College (University of London), for Social and economicconstraints on rural development in Venezuela (?50)Dr C. Thomas, New University of Ulster, for Transformation of rural communities in

Slovenia (?50)(The fund was established in 1967 inmemory of Sir Dudley Stamp for the encourage

ment of geographical study and research, especially by young geographers. TheTrustees have inmind, particularly, the desirability of strengthening the links betweengeographers in the United Kingdom and those in other lands.)

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urban images and stereotypes