Citizens as the subject of city image forming

The subject of this article is the role of citizens in the process of city image forming. Much attention is given to the problem of sociological conceptualization of concept of city image, which is the type of social practice, as a sys-tem of social actions and interactionsof individuals and groups, It has directed controlled and spontaneous uncon-trolled character. It determines city imageand opinion about it as set of its visual, sociolinguistic, estimative charac-teristics. There are three basic characteristics of city image: visual symbols of the city, sociolinguistic conceptions of the city and evaluative opinions about all spheres of urban vital functions. There are two basic ways of image form-ing: «from the top» and «from bellow». In the first case the subject of forming is administrative authorities. In the second case the subject is the citizens. The citizens as the social community are a customer and a producer of city image simultaneously. It is analyzed the data of sociological survey of Ekaterinburg residents. The sample is 385 cit-izens. The type of selection is a quota sample. The data shows that the citizens consider that civic authorities are the main subject of city image forming. City image is formed spontaneously in the process of social actions and interac-tions of citizens. A little more then half of the pollees considers that citizens also influence on city image. Citizen’s participation in forming of image can be purposeful in nature and exceeds the limits of daily interactions. In this case the citizens should be an united urban community. Today there is only a forming community in Ekaterinburg. Nearly a half of pollee considers that there is urban activists, but only every fifth rates oneself among them. The analysis of community in virtual social networks shows the positive dynamics: more and more groups are organized and devot-ed to the city, its problems and the ways to solve it. Recommendations are given how to make the citizens the real active subject of city image forming.