Uncomfortable dwellings drove preindustrial urban socializing into public space

Evidence

Residences in the preindustrial city were likely to be rather cramped, unpleasant places by modern standards. The elites, of course, were rather differently housed and they often had access to private courtyards. But for the vast majority of the urban populace-adult and child-”going out” was probably preferable to “staying in.” As a consequence, a great deal of socializing and playing appears to have occurred in public space. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 211

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

• XREF: Contrasts with elite private courtyards - residential privacy was a class marker that separated elites from the street, relevant to Goffman and civil inattention frameworks.

Related

• Preindustrial cities pushed ordinary residents’ social life into public streets (similarity 0.95)
• Cramped housing pushed preindustrial urbanites into the streets for socializing (similarity 0.93)
• Better housing and dedicated home recreation spaces pulled urban sociability indoors (similarity 0.88)
• Urban spatial expansion enabled large-scale segregation of people and activities. (similarity 0.84)
• Activities once public have moved into private or semiprivate quarters (similarity 0.83)
• Preindustrial city residents encountered social diversity at their own doorstep (similarity 0.83)
• Preindustrial streets were lived-in social spaces used around the clock (similarity 0.81)
• Nonspecialized public space necessarily mixed diverse persons together (similarity 0.81)
• Preindustrial urban life mixed private activities into public streets (similarity 0.81)
• Areal expansion made wholesale spatial segregation of persons and activities possible (similarity 0.80)
• Spatial segregation gives the affluent more access to both private and public space. (similarity 0.80)
• Indoor plumbing and telecoms pulled life and commerce out of public space. (similarity 0.80)
• Urbanites symbolically transform public space into private space to reduce stranger contact (similarity 0.79)
• Preindustrial cities’ density limited class-residential segregation (similarity 0.79)
• Learning in preindustrial cities routinely spilled into public streets rather than walls (similarity 0.79)