ABSTRACT
The young people in this study are ‘ordinary cosmopolitans’ (Lamont 2002) who must learn to move tactically through the city without being seen by their peers or police. The interference of the police officer and, often more pressingly, the looks of other young people make necessary a whole set of practices: avoiding some areas, a way of moving, a way of self-presentation. I have argued that young homeless people are fixed in mobility, kept in a perpetual state of being on the move. Being on the move works on the body (modes of moving without being seen, exhaustion) and on expectations of the future (‘Nowhere will ever be home’ (Kelly)).
