In the face of the current crisis, a constant and uninterrupted process of renegotiation takes place in the European city. A renegotiation at the level of the definition of who and what constitute the system and who do not. The article focuses on processes of urban cognition that take place in the public space, delving in applying the theory of autopoiesis of living systems by Matura and Varela (1974). The city constitutes the landscape where the essence of European identity unfolds. Many European cities present clear symptoms of urban malaise, to which the recent civil protests are an enactive response of the city as a complex ecosystem in the form of a creation of new social space. This relevant and dangerous game can be best observed in the diverse processes of appropriation, exclusion, integration participation and so on, that make use of the communication channels of the public space