Sounds like the writer has confused flanerie with badaud, quoting a quote from a Wikipedia: “The simple flâneur is always in full possession of his individuality, whereas the individuality of the badaud disappears. It is absorbed by the outside world…which intoxicates him to the point where he forgets himself. Under the influence of the spectacle which presents itself to him, the badaud becomes an impersonal creature; he is no longer a human being, he is part of the public, of the crowd."[Victor Fournel, Ce qu'on voit dans les rues de Paris, (Paris, 1867), p. 270. See Shaya 2004.]