h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I came across the term 'the Urban Cool' the other day. It was used in a quite serious business context, so I thought it an odd phrase to use. It seemed somehow generalising, or maybe disrespectful.

So, I looked up the reference, to find it was actually a very specific and technical term. If you are Urban Cool, you are a "Successful city dweller owning or renting expensive flats in trendy inner urban locations". You are in one of the fifteen broader categories of consumers labelled "Liberal Opinions", or "Young, well-educated city dwellers enjoying the vibrancy and diversity of urban life".

"O65. Urban Cool" is one of 67 consumer profiling groups in a system called Mosaic, devised by an information services organisation called Experian. These demographic groups are used widely by all sorts of organisations for many different reasons - political targeting, marketing, town planning, insurance risks. Your address labels you as being in one of these groups, and you will appear on lots of databases which brand you as such.

Big Brother knows exactly how to reach people in these groups - what TV they watch or newspapers they read. He also knows what they spend their money on, and what they tend to do in their spare time.

If you don't think you fit in the Urban Cool group, then instead maybe you're in:

D19 Innate Conservatives - Pillars of local society who are chiefly recent retirees in low density estates on town fringes, or

E22 Beachcombers - Pensioners with good incomes living in holiday areas often close to attractive coastal scenery, or

J42 Worn-Out Workers - Older workers employed in low skilled work or unemployed with low prospects

I can't describe them all, but you'll find a list here:

http://culturehive.co.uk/wp-content...of-Mosaic-Profiling-Groups-2009.pdf

And so I have to ask, which label do you think is branding you and your neighbourhood? And which would you aspire to be (if any)? smiley

Oh. bugger. I think just by my location I@m in the 'urban cool' group. fabulus, yet another reason to want to move....

That link doesn't work for me.

Try this, Gnomon:

http://culturehive.co.uk/resources/an-introduction-to-mosaic-profiling-groups

The document's linked on the page.

IN my defence... when I bought this place, I'd not have been classed as 'Urban cool' - I blame 2legs for the insane UK housing market

I think I'd be classed as Garden Suburbia.

Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F24?thread=Ah, F25. Production Managers: Middle income married couples owning unpretentious semi-detached housing I should probably be in a class of my own: Suburban Failures: Miserable techno-savvy married couples who moved to where the jobs were during the 1990s boom, but now have to commute for hours after they all moved away again.

[Amy P]

I'm probably mislabeled. I live in a trailer park and I'm retired, but I doubt that I fit any of the popular stereotypes.

Those categories do so not apply to any type of housing area in Germany.

The street I live in is populated on the one hand by the couples that built them in the late 50s/early 60s. Mainly with their own hands. Here people build houses and then stay in them till they're carried out.

A few, like ours, have been taken over by younger families when the original owners died or were taken into homes, or divorced, but it's never been the same since the early days when the children - and there were over 20 of them (one family had 7) played together on the street.

The original owners who are still here come from all walks of life, and, apart from their age, and shared experiences, they don't have much else in common. Everyone gets on fine and we can usually all be found out on the street at New Year's.

I am 'Odd English bloke who should shower more often but he seems harmless, and at least he tries to speak the language, although mon dieu I wish he wouldn't.'

So glad I don't live in London!

"Here people build houses and then stay in them till they're carried out." [TC]

That concept has been enshrined in musical theater legend, i.e. the song "Mira" from "Carnival:"


I come from a town, the kind of town
Where you live in a house 'til the house falls down,
But if it stands up you stay there.
It's funny, but that's their way there."