Reading images: A study of a Dutch neighborhood¹

This paper explores the use of photo‐elicitation in an urban sociological study. We are particularly interested in the perception of inhabitants of a neighborhood called the Schilderswijk, in The Hague, toward the meaning of the material environment, as role of social interaction and the nature of ethnic interaction in an ethnically heterogeneous, low‐income neighborhood. We conclude that photo‐elicitation allows for an intensive examination of a social reality from the point of view of those who live there.