ABSTRACT
While Chapter 2 focused on the broad gamut of work considering the city as text, it is evident the ‘cultural turn’ in the social sciences has inspired other takes on urban culture. One such take is that which sidesteps questions of text and textuality to focus on the textures of the city, not least those created through the social practices of the everyday. Central to this perspective is the idea that the majority of social action in the city is unmediated: that is to say, it does not appear to rely on representational knowledges or images of place. Everyday life in cities is, after all, something that cannot be adequately prepared for: no matter how carefully scripted, urban life has a tendency to surprise, and we are constantly forced to improvise and adapt to events as they unfold around us.This is something particularly evident in the more banal and routine aspects of urban life (for instance, the way we walk, talk, drive and generally negotiate our way through the city streets), yet it is clear that everyday life in cities is characterised by all manner of practical adaptation. What is evident here is that while individuals seldom have much control over
what goes on in cities, they creatively improvise to open up ‘pockets of interaction’ in which they can assert and express themselves (no matter how fleetingly or inconsequentially) (Thrift 2003b: 103).
