<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Perception of space is an especially important part of research on urban fabric. The perception of a city is strongly correlated not only with a specific time and place but, first and foremost, with surveyed populations who, apart from having varying demographic features, frequently represent disparate community and cultural profiles.</p><p>The objective of this study was to assess how the urban space of Szczecin (Poland) is perceived by its inhabitants and to ascertain the relations between various image elements. The example of Szczecin appears to be interesting, in as much as it is a peripheral city of a cross-border region with a historically and culturally diverse local community. The presented research used a method of analysing mental (image) maps based on the methodology proposed by Kevin <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_mgrsd-2019-0016_ref_017_w2aab3b7b5b1b6b1ab1b6c17Aa">Lynch (1960)</xref> and modified by the authors to incorporate in-depth interviews. Individual respondents’ views were used to create a synthetic image of the city.</p></abstract>

Perception of space is an especially important part of research on urban fabric. The perception of a city is strongly correlated not only with a specific time and place but, first and foremost, with surveyed populations who, apart from having varying demographic features, frequently represent disparate community and cultural profiles.The objective of this study was to assess how the urban space of Szczecin (Poland) is perceived by its inhabitants and to ascertain the relations between various image elements. The example of Szczecin appears to be interesting, in as much as it is a peripheral city of a cross-border region with a historically and culturally diverse local community. The presented research used a method of analysing mental (image) maps based on the methodology proposed by Kevin Lynch (1960) and modified by the authors to incorporate in-depth interviews. Individual respondents’ views were used to create a synthetic image of the city.

City image based on mental maps — the case study of Szczecin (Poland)

Miscellanea Geographica

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"City image based on mental maps \u2014 the case study of Szczecin (Poland)"}

Perception of space is an especially important part of research on urban fabric. The perception of a city is strongly correlated not only with a specific time...

Proper name	Associations	%
buildings	Szczecin Terrace, NATO’s corps barracks, home, boulevards, Galaxy shopping centre, school, Castle Route, Ducal Castle	25
maritime character of the city	Oder River, harbour, sea, ships, shipyard, water, sea wolves, regattas	17
regional products	Pogoń Football Club, patties, Bosman Brewery, paprykarz szczeciński (canned fish spread)	14
city aesthetics	ugly, dirty, not very modern, dull, green	9
climate	cold, cloudy, rainy, windy	4
location	proximity to Germany, large, small	5
other	slogans like: Lecim na Szczecin! [Let’s fly to Szczecin!], the city of Orion	28

City image based on mental maps — the case study of Szczecin (Poland)

Published Online: Apr 30, 2019

Page range: 111 - 119

Received: May 23, 2018

Accepted: Mar 08, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2019-0016

Keywords
City image, mental maps, space perception, Szczecin, Poland

© 2019 Barbara Osóch, Anna Czaplińska, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Percentage structure of answers to the question about the first association with Szczecin.

City image based on mental maps — the case study of Szczecin (Poland)

Published Online: Apr 30, 2019

Page range: 111 - 119

Received: May 23, 2018

Accepted: Mar 08, 2019

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/mgrsd-2019-0016

KeywordsCity image, mental maps, space perception, Szczecin, Poland

© 2019 Barbara Osóch, Anna Czaplińska, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Percentage structure of answers to the question about the first association with Szczecin.

Keywords
City image, mental maps, space perception, Szczecin, Poland