I have what I call a healthy and growing obsession with ‘Ordinary Cities’.
These are often the cities that don’t enter popular urbanism discourse. They are not the ‘darlings’ in urban discourse. They are perhaps the ‘plain Janes’ from afar, lesser referenced (if at all), yet of course often absolutely rich with case studies and examples for quality of life in urban environments.
In a time when so many cities are also having affordable housing crises, these cities (which are generally not destination cities at all) also serve a very valuable role in the discussion about affordability, human movement, and quality of urban life.
On a personal level, I also genuinely love thinking about (and experiencing) ‘extraordinary moments’ in ‘ordinary cities’ as well as ‘ordinary moments’ in ‘extraordinary cities’.
I’m currently reading ‘Ordinary Cities, Extraordinary Geographies: People, Place and Space‘ edited by John Bryson, Ronald Kafalsky, and Vida V. (Edward Elgar Publishing). In fact, in the introductory chapter, they refer to a ‘neglect of the ordinary’ and that most people in fact live in smaller to medium-sized settlements.
Read more at: https://pedestrianspace.org/category/ordinary-cities/