Geographia Polonica (2006) vol. 79, iss. 2

Social Production of Urban Space (A Case Study of ‘Bad’ Areas in Poznań)

Michał Dolata, Jacek Kotus

Geographia Polonica (2006) vol. 79, iss. 2, pp. 5-22 | Full text

Abstract

This article reflects upon the role of residents and social groups in assigning meaningto urban space. The research on which it is based was intended to: a) support a thesis about theimportance of the social use of urban space in the shaping of urban structures, b) augment ourknowledge as to the assignment of meaning to city areas and support the paradigm accounting forurban phenomena in terms of the everyday life of city dwellers, and c) identify the processes ofurban marking in Polish metropolitan conditions by reference to criminal behaviour and its perceptionin Poznań. The research reported allows a more general conclusion to be drawn in thatthe stigmatization of urban areas only affects small areas and is fairly rare, while stereotypizationof varying intensity is characteristic of much wider areas and is a more frequent mechanism underpinningsocial perceptions of places in a city.

Keywords: Social production (marking) of urban space, stigmatization, stereotypization, Poznań city.

Michał Dolata, Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management, Adam Mickiewicz University Dzięgielowa 27, 61-680 Poznań, Poland
Jacek Kotus [tatra@amu.edu.pl], Institute of Socio-Economic Geography and Spatial Management, Adam Mickiewicz University Dzięgielowa 27, 61-680 Poznań, Poland