Kou en warmte in de stad. Over 'privacy in public' en geveinsde onverschiligheid

Samenvatting

Cold and Warmth in the City. On Privacy and the Pretense of Indifference in Public Space. This essay discusses a recent Dutch study on urban warmth by Thaddeus Muller and reports on a fieldwork exercise carried out by anthropology students. These observations by students of human behavior in public places (streets, trains, stations, libraries, restaurants, etc) show a very different picture of the city than the one described in Muller's study: people develop inventive strategies to keep others at a distance and protect their private space. The author concludes, however, that the contrast between the warmth of Muller's book and the cold of the students' observations is less dramatic than appears, mainly for two reasons. First, the findings of the two studies are very much an artifact of the different research goals. Secondly, there is considerable 'human interest' hidden behind the social indifference that people demonstrate in public space. 12 References. Adapted from the source document.