The city is a significant instance in the "disorder" of the contemporary world. It is in it that life happens. It is a daily challenge to understand its existence. Starting from two empiric cases, Blumenau and Criciúma, two cities of Santa Catarina, the article approaches subjects about the contemporary city. Nowadays, if we cannot describe the cities, that no longer are ruled by the modern and rational model, integrated in their totalized connections, it doesn’t mean that we cannot approach them as practiced places, in their territories and flows, capable to articulate or mix, unequal, antagonistic and unusual elements. Following this perspective we try to detail the constitution of spaces and times in the city, where the polyphony demarcates territories, promotes inclusions and social exclusions, invents languages and symbols, provides identifications, creates new subjects, affects desires, innovates the market and goods.
Contemporary city; image; and polyphony