Bad reputation – bad reality? The intertwining and contested images of a place SIRPA TANI Tani, Sirpa (2001). Bad reputation – bad reality? The intertwining and contest- ed images of a place. Fennia 179:2, pp. 143–157. Helsinki. ISSN 0015-0010. In the early 1990s, prostitution became a visible element in Helsinki and caused a big stir in the Finnish media. Street prostitution became concentrat- ed in a densely-built-up residential area north of the city centre. The prostitu- tion debate stigmatised the area effectively. This article explores the area by interpreting its images in cultural artefacts and in people’s minds. The history of the area will be described in order to make the present images understand- able. Three types of images will be analysed: images of the place for ordinary people, images of the dangerous neighbourhood and images of bohemian ro- manticism, which are all associated with the history of the area and repro- duced in the prostitution debate. Sirpa Tani, Department of Teacher Education, P.O. Box 38, FIN-00014 Univer- sity of Helsinki, Finland. MS received 29th March, 2001 (revised 4th April, 2001). Introduction ages with the experiences of local residents (Tani 2001, 2002). The second one is a research project, The aim of this article is to interpret an area by the main purpose of which was to analyse the ef- exploring its images in cultural artefacts and in fects of street prostitution on women’s everyday people’s minds. The area concerned became lives in Helsinki. The study was made in the form known as a district of street prostitutes and kerb- of a mailed questionnaire to women in two areas; crawlers during the 1990s. The prostitution debate the research area consisted of ten blocks of the in the media stigmatised the area effectively, the street prostitution area, while the control area was fact which is the point of departure for this study. the rest of Inner Helsinki. The material was col- I will ask why some areas are more vulnerable to lected in May–June 1999. A total of 1,714 women get a bad reputation than others and how the answered the questionnaire, 888 of whom lived prostitution debate used and reconstructed place in the research area and 826 in the control area images. I will also ask what dimensions are ap- (Koskela et al. 2000). Many interesting aspects of parent in the present reputation of the place. To place images emerged in both projects but, for answer these questions I will describe the history practical reasons, they took a minor role in the of the area in order to make the present images previous publications. It seemed important to understandable. I will trace the changes in the write this article by concentrating on the relations images in time and analyse their contents by us- between the place and its images. ing examples of various cultural products and First, I will give an overview of some central opinions of local residents. concepts informing my research. Secondly, I will The article is based on two studies of street explain the difficulties of defining the borders of prostitution in Helsinki. The first one is my per- the area studied and note the variation in its nam- sonal research project based on qualitative data ing. Thirdly, I will explore the street prostitution gathered between the years 1993 and 1999, when debate as a creator of some new images of the I lived in the research area and observed the area, and fourthly, I will interpret other existing changes in the neighbourhood on a daily basis. images by concentrating on three dimensions; the The main purpose was to interpret the street pros- area seen as a place with a nostalgic past, as a titution debate and to compare the mediated im- dangerous neighbourhood and a stage for bohe- 144 Sirpa Tani FENNIA 179: 2 (2001) mian romanticism. Finally, I will consider some popular culture. In the humanities and social sci- contemporary place promotion activities and raise ences there has been a growing interest in the questions about the meanings of subjectivity and meanings of spatiality, which has been called a intersubjectivity in place images. The intertwin- ‘spatial turn’. In geography, at the same time, ‘cul- ing and palimpsest character of the images and ture’, along with ‘space’, has become one of the the lived experiences will be highlighted. key concepts. The meaning of ‘culture’ and the content of the new approach (the cultural turn) have aroused vivid debates (e.g. Philo 1991; Cos- Images and reputation of place grove 1993; Duncan 1993; Jackson 1993; Price & Lewis 1993; McDowell 1994; Mitchell 1995; ‘Image’ is a widely used concept with various Johnston 1997; Barnett 1998; Cook et al. 2000). meanings, depending on the discipline and the The ‘cultural turn’ has guided geographers to find context. Its all-inclusive definition is clearly not a new approaches to geographical issues and task for this article. Rather, I will survey some as- brought them closer to discourses in other cultur- pects relevant in the context of this research. The ally and/or socially oriented disciplines. It has conceptual basis of the article contains elements occasioned a broader alertness to how people – of an older behavioural geography, dealing with understood as highly differentiated and multiply mental maps and environmental perceptions, as positioned but always distinctly social beings – well as viewpoints of humanistic geography, es- build up shared repertoires of cultural meaning, pecially elements concerning people’s senses of often embracing place images which may be quite place. At the same time, recent work in cultural stereotypical in content. These images are nego- geography – the connections between places and tiated in a more collective terrain of discourse, the constitution of identities, subjectivities and performance and gesture. imaginings – will be reflected. Since the ‘cultural turn’ in geography, images The origin of the concept of image can be have been interpreted mainly in relation to social- traced to the 1950s business language in the Unit- ly produced space. The social practices of place ed States. It has since become popular, especial- and landscape construction and representations ly in marketing, but also in political science and of images have been popular subjects of study media studies (Karvonen 1999: 37; Äikäs 1999: (e.g. Burgess & Gold 1985; Agnew & Duncan 62). 1989; Zonn 1990; Shields 1991; Anderson & Gale ‘Image’ was one of the central concepts of be- 1992; Barnes & Duncan 1992; Keith & Pile 1993; havioural geography of the 1960s and 1970s, Aitken & Zonn 1994; Gold & Ward 1994; Banks when interest was centred on behaviour patterns 1998). Place images are understood as historical- and environmental perceptions (Gould 1969; ly produced and actively culturally contested. Pocock & Hudson 1978; Gold 1980; Walmsley Language is seen to be important ‘as a medium & Lewis 1993). Perception was used as a syno- and mediator by which intersubjective meanings nym for personal images of the phenomenal en- are shared’ (Shields 1991), and the question of vironment (Porteous 1977), and the products of representation has become central. the process of perception were called mental or Sometimes it is useful to distinguish between a cognitive maps, images, cognitive representations public image and a mental image, as Äikäs (1999, or schemata. Often the concept of image was con- 2001) has stated. ‘Public image’ refers to an in- nected to visual perception, as Kevin Lynch de- tentionally produced impression, while ‘mental fined the term in his book ‘The Image of the City’ image’ means a mental representation of some- (Lynch 1960; see also Lynch 1984). thing, not by direct perception, but by memory ‘Image’ was defined as a representation of re- and imagination (OED Online 2001; cf. Äikäs ality, a metaphorical description of verbal pic- 1999: 59). Sometimes, however, the split between tures, for example (Burgess 1978), a perception the concepts seems to be too violent. The rela- in the absence of an external stimulus (Tuan 1975; tion between public and mental images is more Gold 1980), or as constructed from first-hand ex- like a continuum in a process of making and in- perience (Burgess & Gold 1985). terpreting meanings to the world. In every men- Since the behavioural approaches, images have tal image, there is always something shared and been an important subject of study in humanistic produced, as there is always the level of subjec- geography as well as in studies of the media and tive interpretation in public images. FENNIA 179: 2 (2001) Bad reputation – bad reality? 145 In addition to ‘image’, ‘reputation’ is also used tualised both spatially and socially in relation to in the studies of places and their representations. its surrounding areas. The reputation of a place can be defined as a combination of the shared images, stereotyped meanings and mythical generalisations of ele- Blurred identity of place: ments that people attach to a certain place in their defining the borders minds. Reputation is not necessarily comparable to the reality of place. When the characteristics Usually, identification of an area is quite simple: of a place change radically, place images and the it can be named, and defining its borders makes reputation of that place sometimes stay as they the distinction between it and the surrounding ar- have always been. It can be said that the place eas obvious. Although the definitions may just be has been stigmatised, and these stigmas usually mental constructions built by the researcher, they outlive a particular image. Shields (1991: 256) are usually generally recognised and easily taken argues that the changes “necessitate not just an for granted. In this particular case, the situation adjustment of the myth, ‘cleaning out’ the old is more complicated and needs to be explained images and installing new ones, but a restructur- more carefully.