City's Organazation: A View From Above & Below

In E.B. White's writings, he describes the inhabitants of New York City as living with the city, and not just in it. Each person has their own way of getting around, and their own shortcuts and pleasures they find in their everyday commute. The "city dwellers" challenge the power of city planners by using the city streets and signs as a way of making a personal connection to the surroundings, rather than simply using the signs as a means of finding thier way to where they are going. Getting somewhere becomes a large part of the experience. For example when White discusses walking to work. He says that depending on the day his walk can take anywher from fifteen minutes to two hours- due to stopping by his favorite stores, or window shopping on the way there, and notcing all of the elements that make his journey to work enjoyable to him. I feel that White's texts are particular to New York City because capture the feeling of being in such a planned out space, with so many other people, its hard to find your own space, but at the same time this city enabls you to become a part of it, and live with it, and not just in it. It does this by forcing you to look beyond the crosswalks and street signs by having so many small spaces within the larger ones, such as the storefronts and people' window boxes with plants.