The contemporary city often presents itself as a social mirage, a promise of unreachable well-being and progress. It is the space where neon lights, skyscrapers, and streets in constant motion suggest a better life, a promising future within reach for those who know how to integrate into its schemes. However, this image conceals the tensions underlying urban life: the alienation of the individual, constant competition and the dependence on economic systems that silently govern every aspect of our daily lives. Since their inception, cities have been symbols of advancement and civilization. They represent the place where economic, cultural and social opportunities converge. Yet, in the context of today's world, this progress is conditioned by an economic logic that not only defines how the city is inhabited but also who has the right to inhabit it. The modern city thus becomes a selective promise: a mirage in which well-being always seems just one step further, depends on one's ability to produce, consume and adapt to its structures. Urban life paradoxically fosters self-dependence in the individual. In the struggle to survive and thrive within the city, the subject becomes a prisoner of the very systems that should guarantee their well-being. Work, consumption and productivity are the engines that sustain the urban machine, and in this process , individuals internalize the rules of the game. We learn to measure our self- worth through efficiency, the possession of goods and the achievement of goals dictated by the prevailing economic system. This self-dependence is in reality a form of alienation: it disconnects us from our time, our environment and ultimately, from ourselves. The architecture of the modern city materializes this dynamic. Large buildings and urban planning can provide private and autonomous spaces, but they also becomes walls that separate, confine and marginalize. The city ceases to be a place of genuine encounter and transforms into a stage of accelerated transit, where human interaction is replaced by anonymity and indifference. Thus the individual isolates themselves in the crowd while chasing a version of well-being that never arrives, fueling an endless cycle of work and consumption. In conclusion, the city, viewed as a social mirage, reflects both the aspirations and contradictions of the current world. The promise of a better future clashes with the reality of a self-dependence we have created and sustained through relentless economic structures. The challenge, then, is to rethink our relationship with urban spaces and the narratives that uphold them, seeking ways to inhabit the city that reconcile us with our surroundings, our time and our humanity.