This book will benefit readers by revealing how urban existence is a multifaceted affair that, once examined, will forever change the way they think about their place in the city and what it means to live in one.
Engaging in urban existentialism requires interrogating the idea of “The City,” delving into the facets of its conception. The lights, sounds, exquisite buildings, art, culture, and, most importantly, the endless possibilities entice people. They are where your wildest dreams of love, success, and happiness can come true. Yet, reality can stymie those aspirations. However, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. The reason is that many urban places, as hypercompetitive networks of socio-material arrangements, test you at every turn. They mold urban dwellers into adaptable beings who can survive the torment of traffic, bad weather, displeasing persons, and grueling work—all before lunch. Despite such complexity, what we want is probably simple: people to love, to be loved, a safe place to call home, good food, acceptance of oneself, and the ability to pursue a fulfilling existence through work and recreation. Like cities, nothing is that simple. Examining the built environment reveals competing interests between several stakeholder groups, and how each person relates to others remains at the center of such an enterprise. Questioning one’s place among others is at the heart of this book, and it can help you find meaning in the metropolis.
Meaning in the Metropolis will interest philosophers, graduate students, maverick urban planners, and city lovers looking for meaning in the places they call home.
1. Introduction
2. Towards Living Your Best Life in the City
3. Building an Urban Existentialism
4. Conceptual Common Ground and Joint Action with Others
5. Against Living and Dying Alone
6. The Home as Urban Technology
7. Transportation Arrangements
8. Auxiliary Elements for City Living
9. Lessons for Citizens
Biography
Shane Epting is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. His previous books include Urban Enlightenment: Multistakeholder Engagement and the City, Ethics in Agribusiness: Justice and Global Food in Focus, Saving Cities: A Taxonomy of Urban Technology, and The Morality of Urban Mobility.
“In Meaning in the Metropolis, Shane Epting helps us to see how the design and structure of our cities too often fail to provide the conditions needed for us to live free and meaningful lives. Rather, our cities impose on us conditions from which we must struggle to disentangle ourselves and which can tragically lead to urban isolation and the dread of living and dying alone. By studying how our planning and policies create these harmful conditions, Epting shows us how we might hope to mitigate them. Through innovations in transportation services, housing policy, and the use of new technologies, we can make our urban spaces more conducive to human connection and foster the freedom needed for city dwellers to flourish. This is an important book and our cities will be better for taking its lessons seriously.”
Joseph S. Biehl, St. John’s University, New York
