There’s an interesting blog from a curious journalist in Edmonton, who asks readers why the capital city has such a bad reputation (her words, not mine). Self-awareness is a great attribute, but the fact you have to ask the question is proof of a problem.
A great city is about confidence, swagger and punching beyond your weight class. It’s about working together despite tremendous adversity, as we’ve seen in spades in recent days, and showing your best to your family, your community, your employer and yourself. It’s about caring for others, both next door and well beyond. If you do that most days, you’ll have a great reputation.
Some people have knocked the Calgary Stampede for dusting itself off and carrying on after the city’s flooding devastation, but it has been a welcome symbol of strength and determination. I’d rather have these folks represent us than school officials, who closed classes and ran for the gates at the first sign of adversity.
Speaking of durability, the people who run Klondike Days, or whatever they’re calling it this year, in Edmonton could learn a lesson or two from the Stampede. Branding 101: It doesn’t do much for your reputation when you can’t decide what to call your major celebration of the year.
In a nutshell, the difference between Calgary and Edmonton is that our iconic symbols are the Calgary Tower and the Bow tower, not the legislature. The first two are self-sufficient and striving for the sky, the other is dependent on tax dollars.
Glad I could help the Edmonton writer, Otiena Ellwand. Here’s her blog from edmontonjournal.com
Why does Edmonton have such a bad reputation?
In light of it being Canada Day on Monday, I thought it might be interesting to reach out to people outside of the city to find out what they think defines Edmonton. What does Canada (or at least some people in some cities in Canada) think of us?
I polled my contacts on Facebook (some of whom have been here and most who haven’t) and sadly the results weren’t very positive.
Here’s a sample:
-Blue-collar, oil, West Edmonton Mall (Calgary*)
-Bleak, disjointed, depressing (Halifax)
-Bulgogi pizza, the Editor’s burger, a looping water slide (Toronto)
-Cadence Weapon (Toronto)
-Gretzky, Kurri, Messier (Saint John, N.B.)
-Little to no daylight in the winter (Ottawa)
-Car-centric, good times on Rabbit Hill, odd street naming system, Conservative (Toronto)
-The mall and ice (Saint John, N.B.)
-Economically wealthy, but culturally poor (Vancouver)
-Lots of roads and that beautiful River Valley, also one of the worst bus depots in all of Canada, second only to Winnipeg (Toronto)
-Whyte Avenue, where we first went to this cool cafe and heard Ottmar Liebert (Toronto)
-Boring and in the middle of nowhere (Toronto)
So why does Edmonton have such a bad reputation?
I posed that question to Kevin Jones, a senior research associate at the University of Alberta’s City-Region Studies Centre, who decided to approach the question by looking at how we can understand negative perceptions instead.
He explained that we understand place in relation to our perceptions of other places and how they compare, that’s why as a society we’re so obsessed with city rankings, for example. The images we construct about these other places help us understand what we value, desire and don’t like about where we live.
To take a different spin on negative talk, often people do so with a twinge of pride. Belonging to a place only happens when you can accept it for what it is, good and bad.
“In Edmonton, I suspect we both hate our winters, but are also proud of our ability to endure. Have you ever overstated how cold a winter was while talking to someone from Vancouver? In doing so what were you saying about them and what were you saying about yourself. Here again, negative talk informs our identities,” Jones wrote in an email.
Finally, he said to take all the negativity with a grain of salt. Quality of place does not equate quality of life.
“Infinitely more important is taking the opportunities created by speaking about place to encourage unique understandings of who we are, what we desire and what we imagine Edmonton can be,” he said.
I hope that through our #50ThingsYEG project we’ll be able to shed light on some of the great aspects of this city and change’ first impressions as a result. I know that after almost two months here, mine certainly have.
*The city refers to where these contacts are currently residing, not necessarily where they are from originally.
Unlike Edmonton, Calgary knows why it has a great reputation
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