Preindustrial city streets overwhelmed observers with dense simultaneous activity

Evidence

Picture yourself then, a modern urban human, dropped by means of a time machine, in the midst of some mythical composite preindustrial city. You are struck, first of all, by the sheer amount of activity there. Merchants, operating out of little cubbyholes, have spread their wares · in the street. Next to them, a school of some type appears to be in session and you wonder how the students can concentrate. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 159

Categorization

• XREF: The sensory density depicted here is the environmental stimulus against which Simmel’s ‘blasé attitude’ develops as a protective mechanism — directly relevant to the reader’s cross-reading purpose.