Twin cities for Russian and foreigners: peculiarities of psychological representations

In the article the problem of man and environment interrelation is investigated. The study results of the psychological representations of the Perm city by native citizens and foreigners are presented. The generic and specific peculiarities are determined. As far as the generic peculiarities are concerned it is important to note that the most significant elements of the psychological representations are the spatial and the visual-aesthetic ones. As for the specific features the key structural elements, singled out on the basis of foreigners' perception study, are historical and age-specific («young city»), spatial and geographic («remote city»), dynamic («busy city»), the image components as well are emotional and aesthetic («fine city»), emotional and visual («the grey city»), emotional and cognitive («interesting city») and tactile («dusty city»). Foreigners seem to have a positive and active attitude towards the city, that is expressed by the perception and assimilation. The citizens of Perm seem to have a varied conception of the spatial organization of the city, the most significant characteristics for them are the status, the individual and autobiographic ones.