URBAN IDEOLOGY AS A CULTURAL SYSTEM

Abstract

This qualitative, interview study explores the way that some contemporary urban enthusiasts think about cities, suburbs and small towns in order to develop an interpretation of urban ideology as a cultural system. Unlike much previous work on urban imagery and preferences that stresses the antiurbanism of American culture, this research demonstrates that city fans draw on a favorable ideology of cities, a shared perspective that emphasizes the centrality, diversity, liberality and freedom of cities, and the marginality, uniformity, conservatism and oppressiveness of suburban and small town communities. This shared perspective, moreover, not only legitimates personal commitment to cities but also shapes the way urban enthusiasts interpret contemporary urban problems and, in some cases, articulate an urban identity—a sense of being an active, openminded liberal person who belongs in a city.