From Sartre to Skyscrapers: Philosophy in the Heart of the City

Cities are experiments in being human. Millions of people packed into towers, trains, and streets, all negotiating identity, meaning, and choice. Every day, the city forces us to reflect on the same questions philosophers have been asking for centuries: Who am I? How do I live in a way that reflects who I truly want to be? How do I connect with the people around me?

Jean-Paul Sartre said, “existence precedes essence.” In other words, we define ourselves through our choices. Walk through a city for a day and you’ll feel it: every commute, every meeting, every casual encounter is a small act of self-authorship.

The city forces us to confront ourselves in ways that quieter spaces never do. Every street corner, subway platform, and office lobby becomes a mirror, reflecting who we are and who we might want to be.

The sheer density of choices, encounters, and stimuli makes living in a city a kind of daily self-experiment. Do you take the longer, scenic route home, or the fastest one? Do you strike up a conversation with a stranger, or stay in your bubble? These small decisions accumulate, shaping identity in ways both subtle and profound.

In this sense, the city is less a backdrop and more a crucible: it tests our values, our priorities, and our capacity to act freely while navigating the endless complexity of urban life.

Freedom in the Crowd

Living in a city makes it impossible to hide from yourself. Every decision, from which train to catch to which conversation to join, becomes a small act of self-definition. You are not defined by the buildings around you or the crowds that brush past, but by how you move through them, how you respond, and the choices you make in the midst of chaos. In the city, identity isn’t given. It’s forged, moment by moment, by the life you choose to live.

Sartre called the weight of shaping yourself "anguish," the recognition that your choices define who you are, for better or worse. Every decision in the city, from the mundane to the profound, is a small act of self-creation.

But defining yourself doesn’t happen in isolation.

Confucius emphasized ren, the cultivation of humaneness through relationships. In a city, who we are is constantly negotiated with others. Our freedom intersects with social expectations, our self-definition entwined with how we treat and are treated by those around us.

Urban life, then, teaches a dual lesson: we are responsible for ourselves, but we are never entirely separate from the human web in which we live.

The Absurd in Daily Life

Create an Account to Continue

You've reached your daily limit of free articles. Create an account or subscribe to continue reading.

Read-Only

$3.99/month

• ✓ Unlimited article access
• ✓ Profile setup & commenting
• ✓ Newsletter

Essential

$6.99/month

• ✓ All Read-Only features
• ✓ Connect with subscribers
• ✓ Private messaging
• ✓ Access to CityGov AI
• ✓ 5 submissions, 2 publications

Premium

$9.99/month

• ✓ All Essential features
• 3 publications
• ✓ Library function access
• ✓ Spotlight feature
• ✓ Expert verification
• ✓ Early access to new features

Log InCreate Account