Introduction: An Urban Impasse

Scholarly contributions to urban life seem to meander between the dream of the polis – the city with rights for all – on the contrary, and the nightmare of the neoliberal city of control on the other. From routine interactions to global phenomena, this paradox can be seen in a range of urban situations. As states, regions and cities attempted to govern health under the conditions of COVID-1 9, the existing differential capacities of cities to care and control became highly visible. Before the pandemic startled us, we had begun work on this Special Issue by exploring an alternative way of approaching urban life. Rather than moving back and forth between the above paradigms, there is still a relational approach to the city that takes everyday urban life as the material for argumentation. This approach is less interested in spectacular events; we focus on the enduring trends of urban change produced by the quiet power of city streets.