Wide economic disparities are the characterizing features of contemporary urban economies. However, very little is known about how economic inequality is perceived and experienced in urban contexts. Reflecting on the current empirical thinking about perceptions of inequality and guided by Antonio Gramsci's framing of ‘conceptions of the world’, the broad meanings of attitudes and perceptions are transferred to an urban level with a view to develop a framework of ‘urban conceptions of economic inequalities’, which will enable a broader understanding of how economic inequality and its ramifications are conceptualized for urban research and practice