Everyday Mobility: Encountering Difference

Abstract

Shortell takes stock of the dynamic quality of urban life noting that everyday mobility has always been an essential part of cities, and that walking remains the most important form because its pace is slow enough to allow a multisensory experience, and because it permits communication and interaction in public spaces. Our experience of the city, he notes, occurs in the context of group dynamics. Based on ethnographic observations in Brooklyn, London and Paris, he describes some of the ways that urban dwellers encounter difference in their everyday routines walking and using public transportation. He argues that even if everyday civility in these spaces does not have a large impact on evaluations of groups, cosmopolitan canopies play an important role in the production of toleration. This, Shortell concludes, may serve as the basis for more inclusive urban places.