An acclaimed sociologist illuminates the public life of an American city, offering a major
reinterpretation of the racial dynamics in America. Following his award-winning work on
inner-city violence, Code of the Street, sociologist Elijah Anderson introduces the concept of
the “cosmopolitan canopy”—the urban island of civility that exists amidst the ghettos,
suburbs, and ethnic enclaves where segregation is the norm. Under the cosmopolitan
canopy, diverse peoples come together, and for the most part practice getting along …

The public spaces of the city are more racially, ethnically, and socially diverse than ever.
Social distance and tension as expressed by wariness of strangers appear to be the order of
the day. But the “cosmopolitan canopy” offers a respite and an opportunity for diverse
peoples to come together to do their business and also to engage in “folk ethnography” that
serves as a cognitive and cultural base on which people construct behavior in public.