The short answer
Dream interpretation is not prediction and not diagnosis. This article separates what sleep research observes from what popular interpretation associates with the theme.
Dreaming about a city does not predict a move, a job change or a trip. Cities bring together streets, people and rhythm, and the dream uses them as a setting for sensations such as hurry, anonymity or familiarity.
Read also: Dream meanings: what science and culture actually say | Dreaming about travel: missing the plane and other classics.
Why cities appear in dreams
The dream reuses places where we have been or that we saw in films, photos and news, and cities are settings for many memories.
Dreams with unknown or large places are frequent in the general population, which puts this theme in the ordinary.
Source: Nielsen and colleagues, The Typical Dreams of Canadian University Students, Dreaming, 2003.
The most reported variations
- Familiar city: personal memories and a sense of familiarity.
- Unknown city: curiosity or wariness of the new.
- Empty city: loneliness or a pause, in folk reading.
- Crowded city: a sense of too many stimuli or of hurry.
- Getting lost in the streets: a common theme, tied to uncertainty.
When the dream turns into discomfort
Dreaming about a city is common and usually neutral. If dreams come with strong anguish, a sense of being chased and repeated awakenings, talk to a health professional.
Source: Morgenthaler and colleagues, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018.
What folklore says
In folk reading, the city represents life in society, and an empty city isolation or the end of a cycle. These are cultural interpretations with no proof, and they vary with each person's experience.
Sources
- Schredl M, Hofmann F. Continuity between waking activities and dream activities. Consciousness and Cognition, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1053-8100(02)00072-7
- Nielsen TA et al. The Typical Dreams of Canadian University Students. Dreaming, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1023/b:drem.0000003144.40929.0b
- Morgenthaler TI et al. Position Paper for the Treatment of Nightmare Disorder in Adults. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2018. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.7178
Frequently asked questions
Does dreaming about a big city mean change?
That is a folk reading. Research does not relate dreams to future changes.
Is dreaming about an empty city a bad sign?
No. It tends to reflect a sense of pause or momentary loneliness.
I dream of cities I never visited. Is that normal?
Yes. The dream combines memories, films and images into new settings.
