University of Helsinki - Research news
Helsinki lives up to its reputation
Helsinki nabbed four top marks in a survey conducted by Pekka Aula, Professor of Digital Communications at the University of Helsinki.
The survey compared the reputations of nine Finnish cities in six different categories.
Aula presented the results of his survey at a joint press conference held by the University of Helsinki and the City of Helsinki on the re-styled Helsinki.fi city portal. A full research report will be published in autumn 2006.
"Everyone has some kind of idea of different cities, even if they have never visited them . The survey results do not reflect the true state of affairs in the cities concerned, it is only indicative of what people think and believe these cities are," Aula stressed.
The survey comprised nine of the regional centres in Finland. The first place in terms of overall results went to Helsinki. Tampere came second, followed by Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lahti and Vaasa, while Lappeenranta ended up in last place.
The survey was carried out as a questionnaire directed at Finnish respondents between the ages of 18-65. There were about 500-570 respondents from each city, but no-one was allowed to grade the city where they lived.
Helsinki was considered attractive and responsible and was given the highest grades for its public image, public services, innovation capacity and responsibility for its inhabitants. Helsinki lost first place in the categories urban environment and city management to Tampere and Oulu, respectively.
Professor Aula considers it a good thing that cities have also woken up to the importance of image maintenance.
"A good image can boost the success of a city, while a bad reputation may put the area into a downward spiral. In the present comparison, phenomena behind a city's reputation were considered more important than its grades according to Aula.
The survey was funded by an online communications project at the Palmenia Centre for Continuing Education.
Text: Minna Rauhansalo & Mirja Mäenpää
Photo: City of Helsinki Picture Bank
