Experiencing the City in a Changing World: Inhabitants, Commuters, City Users, and flâneurs

The chapter focuses on the capacity of the individual to combine local identity and global perspectives. Starting from personal experiences linked to quality of life (QoL) as a sense of belonging to the local community and city, I explore the possibility of improving collective urban QoL by mixing the needs and experiences of inhabitants and visitors. In particular, I consider different types of urban populations living, working, and consuming in the cities, such as inhabitants, commuters, city users, and flâneurs and their potential conflicts. Theoretical and methodological issues are presented in order to predict new possible research perspectives.