ABSTRACT
Urban studies require a different approach to that used in rural community studies, because the 'community' is less readily defined in socio-spatial terms, and the environment can be considerably more complex. This chapter focuses on an ethnographic study, using primarily participant observation and semi-structured interviews, of Cork city in the early 1990s, carried out as part of a research programme on Irish urban life-worlds. It focuses on a locality study of Dublin's inner city commissioned by the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) Ireland, which was independent of that programme. The chapter also focuses on the experience of a smaller urban centre, Galway city. In popular perception, Galway has since the 1980s often been presented as a prime case of post-industrial, culture-led development. Research in Cork city sought to cover both sides of the river Lee, which forms a social as well as a geographical dividing line within the city.
