street smarts

Definition of Street Smarts in English :

1. street smarts

a shrewd ability to survive in a dangerous urban environment

WordNet Lexical Database for English. Princeton University. 2010.

Street Smarts

plural noun

US

the skills and cunning necessary for surviving in an urban, poor and often criminal environment

The boys learned their street smarts early.

I had learned certain street smarts (among them the rule of never looking a vendor in the eye unless you intend to buy something).

Informal

cunning or shrewdness needed to live in, or to deal with people living in, an urban environment characterized by poverty, crime, etc.

pl.n.

1. Shrewd awareness of how to survive in an often hostile urban environment.

2. Practical knowledge, especially in a specific area of endeavor: a financial analyst with street smarts.