The Real Life ‘of’ the City and ‘in’ the City

Margaret Crawford’s Everyday Urbanism gives an interesting insight to the urban spaces around us. She makes the argument that the true issue is not to make beautiful buildings or cities, but to make a work of life. She references Lefebvre identifying immigrants, low-level employees, and teenagers as victims of everyday life, although “never in the same way, never at the same time, never all at once.” I liked the example given about the grocery cart because it shows how different spaces or objects can be viewed or used differently among society. The grocery cart is viewed by a busy mother differently than a homeless person. Society can see different spaces to fit into their social exchange in the city. These urban activities described are tactical and a form of everyday creativity among individuals. I agree that the practices of everyday urbanism should inevitably lead to social change, not through abstract political ideologies imposed from the outside, but through specific concerns that arise from the lived experience of individuals within a city.