Communicating the City ― Meanings, Practices, Interactions

How human meanings, practices and interactions produce and are produced by urban space is the focus of this timely and exciting addition to the study of urban communication.

Challenging notions of the ‘urban’ as physically, economically or technologically determined, this book explores key intersections of discourse, materiality, technology, mobility, identity and inequality in acts of communication across urban and urbanizing contexts. From leisure and media consumption among Chinese migrant workers in a Guangdong village to the diverse networks and communication infrastructures of global cities like London and Los Angeles, this collection combines a range of perspectives to ask fundamental questions about the significance and status of cities in times of intensified mediation and connectivity.

With case studies from Italy, Britain, Ireland, Russia, the United States and China, this international collection demonstrates that both empirical and critical knowledge on the relationship between communication and urban life has become vital across the humanities and social sciences.

Communicating the City will be essential reading for all scholars and students who desire to gain an in-depth understanding of the multiple roles that media and communication have in lived experiences of the city.

Giorgia Aiello is an associate professor in the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds. She has published widely on the aesthetics of urban regeneration, urban communication research methods, and promotional communication in urban contexts.

Matteo Tarantino is a research associate at the University of Geneva and an adjunct professor at the Catholic University of Milan.

Kate Oakley is Professor of Cultural Policy in the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds. Her most recent books are Culture, Economy and Politics: The Case of New Labour (with David Hesmondhalgh, David Lee and Melissa Nisbett; 2015) and Cultural Policy (with David Bell; 2015).