Rather than examining what constitutes urban life in a particular city, this paper draws attention to how cities are ‘placed’ along individuals’ life trajectories. The outcome of 15 months of ethnographic research among 102 residents of Lagos's Gowon Estate neighbourhood suggests that Lagos is better understood relationally, through subjective narratives of city life. Given its scale and position among Nigerian cities, the meanings of Lagos to different individuals must be illuminated via an examination of how they ‘place’ those urban places that are important to them – Lagos, hometowns and regional centres – both conceptually and practically within their lived experiences and current livelihoods. In short, this paper exemplifies and advocates a methodology that does not treat cities as a central analytical unit, but instead interprets the meanings of living in cities based on individual inhabitants’ narratives, networks and other aspects of their lived experiences in Lagos and elsewhere.

中文翻译：

---

生活中的拉各斯：将城市置于生活体验中

本文没有研究特定城市的城市生活由什么构成，而是关注城市如何沿着个人的生活轨迹“放置”。对拉各斯 Gowon Estate 社区的 102 名居民进行了 15 个月的民族志研究结果表明，通过对城市生活的主观叙述，可以更好地理解拉各斯的关系。鉴于其在尼日利亚城市中的规模和地位，拉各斯对不同个人的意义必须通过考察他们如何“放置”对他们来说很重要的城市场所——拉各斯、家乡和区域中心——在概念上和实践上都在他们的生活经历和目前的生计。简而言之，本文举例并提倡一种不将城市视为中央分析单位的方法，