... of city life, whether it's up or down (5)
I believe the answer is:
civic
This clue is a double definition.
'of city life' is the first definition.
'whether it's up or down' is the second definition.
(Other definitions for civic that I've seen before include "Municipal (palindrome)" , "Relating to a city or town" , "Relating to a city/town" , "Like, eg, town councils" , "Numbers of Romans" .)