This photo essay presents the perspective of seven researchers on the public lives in four European cities: Lviv, Manchester, St. Petersburg, and Sofia. For two years (2006-2008) a group of sociologists, cultural studies specialists, anthropologists and social geographers observed the everyday lives of these cities: the meeting of the spheres of work, consumption, and leisure; the intersections of race, ethnicity, class, and gender; the changes in design and architecture of public places; and the citizens' attitudes to current developments and emerging problems.