Internationalization In The Helsinki Metropolitan Area: Images, Discourses And Metaphors

Revista "European Planning Studies"
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Internationalization in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: Images, Discourses and Metaphors

Alberto Vanolo a a Dipartimento Interateneo Territorio, Politecnico e Università di Torino, Torino, Italy OnlinePublication Date: 01 February 2008 To cite this Article: Vanolo, Alberto (2008) 'Internationalization in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: Images, Discourses and Metaphors', European Planning Studies, 16:2, 229 - 252 To link to this article: DOI: 10.1080/09654310701814538 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09654310701814538

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EuropeanPlanning Studies Vol. 16, No. 2, February 2008

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Internationalization in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area: Images, Discourses and Metaphors
ALBERTO VANOLO
` Dipartimento Interateneo Territorio, Politecnico e Universita di Torino, Torino, Italy

[Received June 2005; accepted September 2006]

ABSTRACT This paper investigates promotionalimages in the Metropolitan Area of Helsinki, focusing on the projection, outside national boundaries, of specific “ideas” concerning the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. After introducing the Helsinki Metropolitan Area, presenting its geographical features, urban dynamics, actual problems and actors involved in image-building, the focus of this research will be a comparison between the imagesproposed in promotional materials and policy documents by the various territorial units, looking at their differences, overlaps, synergies and clashes. In fact, as will be discussed, even if the images proposed by the cities consist of the same thematic fields (technology, nature, culture, etc.), they contain slightly different implicit messages, targets, representations of the cities, values,strategic orientations and approaches.

Introduction: Urban Images and Competition A discussion on the subject of images of places leads to a field rich in ambiguities. If a particularly narrow interpretation of the term image is held, attention should be focussed exclusively on the realm of the visual. The study of a place from this particular perspective would certainly not lack interest, especiallyin the case of the city, a place by definition characterized by concentration and variety of elements, and therefore rich in visual experiences. From such a perspective, it would be reductive to seek and to analyse only one image of the city, because it is necessary to consider a multitude of images and different perspectives. Moreover, such an examination of the city would surely drive a socialscientist, as any careful observer, to question and focus on some non-strictly-visual aspects of the urban phenomenon, such as social inequalities, the planned characters of the area, or the particular atmosphere being evoked and communicated. Questioning the

` Correspondence Address: Alberto Vanolo, Dipartimento Interateneo Territorio, Politecnico e Universita di Torino, Viale Mattioli, 39,...