Yes, Ibn Battuta's account is extremely useful for understanding life in contemporary urban centres.

His book Rihla, written in Arabic, provides extremely rich and interesting details about the social and cultural life in the subcontinent in the fourteenth century. He documented the cosmopolitan culture of urban centres where people speaking Arabic, Persian, Turkish and other languages shared ideas, information and anecdotes.

His account includes diverse aspects of urban life - stories about men noted for their piety, kings who could be both cruel and generous, and importantly, about the lives of ordinary men and women. This gives us valuable insights into the social fabric of cities during that period.

Ibn Battuta visited sacred shrines, spent time with learned men and rulers, and often officiated as qazi. His personal experiences in these urban centres provide authentic glimpses into the administrative, religious and social structures of the time.

His method of highlighting unfamiliar things to impress readers ensures that unique aspects of Indian urban life were recorded in detail. His narrative gave "entertainment to the mind and delight to the ears and eyes, with a variety of curious particulars." Thus, his account serves as a valuable historical source for reconstructing the urban landscape of fourteenth-century India.