Martine C Middleton
Dept. of Tourism & Leisure Management, University of Central Lancashire

[P]leisure: Places, Photographs and People

The environmental images of cities have attracted a good deal of research attention (Lynch, 1960, 1972; Tuan, 1974; Relph, 1987; Pearce, 1988; Urry, 2002). Urry concludes that there is no single gaze as such, simply a variety of views borne from different people (2002: 1). Nowhere is this assertion challenged as highly, as within the changing settings of today's' cities. The use of photography has become a central link to unite places as destinations with people as potential tourists. Urry (2002) acknowledges the existence of a complex social-physical relationship and many authors contest that visuality alone remains an inadequate form of interpretation. Thus, if city marketers select and present photographs then they in turn become organised and interpreted by tourists as individuals. The paper addresses the construction of cities as destinations of cultural capital and diversity by visual means. The city of Manchester claims to have emerged as 'the northern capital of social and cultural diversity' and highlights the question of culture as observed, or created?
     The innovative research design aimed to bridge the objective world of the built environment with the subjectivity of personal recreational experience. The overall study sought to evaluate the diversity of subject experience in a measurable and meaningful way. The objective data gathering techniques integrated Geographical Information Systems (MapInfo) and SPSS (Version 10). A total of 30 in-depth interviews were used to gather, organise and collate the subjective opinions of tourists within the city itself. To do this a variety of photographs were provided to illustrate a wide selection of city places and settings, many which had already been visited. Individuals were requested to rank photographs by preference and to justify their selection. These rankings were analysed by Q technique to produce four factor types. Each was statistically distinct and identified different ways of seeing the same place. The paper presents the case for visual consumption being the unifying link between behaviour and experience. The paper concludes the culture that conditions the experience is wholly determined by the personal frame of reference inherent in the social origin of tourists themselves.
     This working paper presents the partial findings of a completed PhD study entitled 'Strangers in the City: an evaluation of the tourist experience'.

References
Lynch, K., (1960) The Image of the City. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press
Lynch, K., (1972). What Time is this Place, Cambridge, Mass: M. I. T. Press.
Pearce, P. L., (1988)The Ulysses factor: evaluating visitors in tourist settings, New York: Springer-Verlag
Relph, E., (1987) The Modern Urban Landscape, Kent: Croom Helm Ltd
Tuan, Y. F., (1974) Topophilia. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice - Hall.
Urry, J., (2002) The Tourist Gaze, Second Edition, London: Sage Publications.