Identité urbaine, question d’images

Since the late 2000s, urban identity has become a fashionable concept for many humanities. This paper aims to produce a conceptual framework for capturing the formation of urban identities through the articulation between projected images and perceived images and their respective components. From an extensive and a cross-disciplinary approach, we highlight the components of each one. The components of the perceived image are the desired image, the lived image, and the inherited image. The components of the projected identity are the normative identity, the strategic identity, the socially dominant identity and the marketed identity. For capturing the components of projected identities, we refer to empirical studies about websites contents for a range of French cities from global to small ones. Results confirm the framework of components and indicate a strong influence of strategic and normative identities compared to marketed and socially dominant identities. The lack of a socially dominant identity in sprawling and fragmented metropolises or the absence of real distinctive features in small towns could explain such a pattern. Alongside, a case study from the Bordeaux 2050 foresight workshops allows us to consider the influences of the components of the perceived image. This qualitative study validates the structure of the perceived image in which the lived image seems to be crucial but tied to the individuals' social conditions. The lived image generates the feared images that give rise to the desired images. Finally, by mobilizing the works concerned, we highlight the negative effects in terms of attractiveness of an inconsistency between perceived images and projected identities. Understanding the structure of identity is therefore useful for those who conceive it as a major driving force for the development of cities.