Inspiration in the City

From new business contacts and careers, to art and friendship, the urban life has much to offer. Four city dwellers give their perspective on urban living.

By Anya Kamenetz, published on July 01, 2007 - last reviewed on March 09, 2009

Caroline Greeven, Los Angeles

Caroline Greeven and her partner started a literary agency four years ago with nothing but a shoestring budget and a belief in their own internal barometers of taste. "Of necessity, we get our ideas from being plugged into the city," says Greeven. "I don't go out and say, I have to find a great restaurant I can do a cookbook with. I just go out to see what's going on in the world, and that's where ideas come from." Her company has since been sold to the much larger Agency Group. Her job—packaging books about music, food, design, and fashion—takes her all over the city, from Little Vietnam to the hip new boutiques downtown, and all that reconnaissance helps her spot trends that haven't hit the mainstream yet. "I could literally do my job anywhere—all I need is the Internet and phone—but seeing a million different realities every day forces you to think bigger than you would in your office at home."

Jay Belsky, London

Jay Belsky traded an academic career in semi-rural State College in Pennsylvania for the London life. Now he directs the Institute for the Study of Children, Families, and Social Issues, and can't imagine going back. Not only did he upgrade from a "culinary wasteland," but he also renounced American car culture for the slow charms of perambulation: "In State College it was always 'get in the car and go,' " he says. "In London, I walk and walk and walk, by myself, with my partner, or with friends, and it's endlessly interesting." Belsky is going places professionally as well. "The big benefit to my work of living in a city is rubbing shoulders more often with more colleagues from related disciplines, as well as opportunities to contribute to policy and the media."

Rachel Brown, Washington, D.C.

Rachel Brown is among the thousands of young people who flock to Capitol Hill with political dreams. Brown, who spent much of her life in Little Rock, Arkansas, long dreamt of serving in the State Department or at a foreign embassy. Currently an assistant to Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor, she moved to the capital for the bigger employment pool and opportunities, but the social life was also a huge draw. "I'm always meeting new people," she says, "and there are so many restaurants and clubs, as well as the waterfront in the summer. It would be easy never to visit the same place twice." Washington is all about connections, and Rachel feels plugged in. "I know people through my alumni association, my former boss, people from Arkansas," she says. "It's a big small town, in a way."

James Banta, New York

In 1999, artist James Banta walked the entire 32-mile perimeter of Manhattan in a single day with a few friends, a journey that eventually became the multimedia art installation "Circumanhattanation." "There are parts of Manhattan where millions of people pass every day and parts no one ever sees," says Banta, a native New Yorker. The city figures prominently in his architectural preservation efforts—he has worked on iconic sites, including Ellis Island and the Apollo Theater—and in his own artwork, which deals with geography, history, and nations such as India. "New York causes me to think a lot about the rest of the world as a small, connected place," he says, "because you have access to some feature of everything in the world here."