La observación participante y la deriva: dos técnicas móviles para el análisis de la ciudad contemporánea. El caso de Barcelona

Abstract

We are territoriants, radicants, transumers, travelers in the global city. With these figures we give shape and meaning to the contemporary urban space. Such space and the practices that give rise to it are related to the constant movements, flows and interconnections of people, things, data, ideas and goods presently under way, thus being directly linked to the paradigm of mobility and the radicant logic. In this context, it is necessary to use mobile methodology, the best suited to the contemporary cities and their inhabitants. This paper deals with this issue. Mobile methodology is defined and its practices are shown through two specific mobile techniques: participant observation and drift. The paper also highlights how this methodology is especially useful for studying the current urban context and the practices that take place there, as it shares the constitutive logic of the phenomena studied.