The hardest part of urban adventuring is the initial step into public space

Evidence

But how does the individual learn to gauge his own abilities without risk? And how does he even develop them without going to new places where he may feel uncomfortable? The answer seems to be that he does not, and this is perhaps one of the greatest ironies of city living. … In doing so, however, one increases one’s vulnerability to disorganization in the face of change. Or, one can take risks, rushing headlong into new places, new people, and new situations, thereby increasing one’s self-knowledge and one’s skills and, in the long run, finding the city not to be risky at all (see Chapter Eight). — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 638 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Lone urbanites create private space through body management rather than by changing place; Urban competence develops only through exposure to risky new places — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 638

Related

• Urban competence develops only through exposure to risky new places (similarity 0.90)
• Playing it safe in the city increases vulnerability to later disorganization (similarity 0.85)
• Utopian urban plans fail without social psychological realism about people (similarity 0.84)
• Urban spatial literacy varies enormously across individual mental locational maps (similarity 0.84)
• Navigating urban life ultimately depends on self-knowledge, not location knowledge (similarity 0.82)
• Urban avoidance and urban adventuring are contrasting behavioral poles of city life (similarity 0.81)
• Lone urbanites create private space through body management rather than by changing place (similarity 0.81)
• Ethnic neighborhoods can shelter inhabitants from ever learning to navigate strangers (similarity 0.80)
• Urban strangers can avoid situational incompetence by avoidance and instruction. (similarity 0.80)
• Urbanites symbolically transform public space into private space to reduce stranger contact (similarity 0.79)
• Some expert urbanites adventure into stranger-filled space rather than avoid it. (similarity 0.79)
• City-raised people may navigate urban spaces more skillfully than newcomers (similarity 0.79)
• Routine risk-taking makes the city feel less risky (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Urban competence develops only through exposure to risky new places #expands (0.75) — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 638