Media Practices and Urban Politics: Conceptualizing the Powers of the Media-Urban Nexus

Abstract

The spatial imaginations of media studies and urban studies are increasingly aligned, illustrated by a growing literature on what can be identified as the media—urban nexus. This nexus has attracted scholarly interest not only as a cultural phenomenon, but also as a site of emergent political dynamics. We suggest that literature on the media—urban nexus points to the always-already present conditions of possibility for a translocal, relational urban politics. Current conceptualizations of the politics of urbanized media, however, tend to fall into one of two registers: conflicts over the access to and regulation of urban media spaces; or the silent politics that media inscribe into the affective textures of urban life. Both tend to envision media as instrumental supplements to politics, overestimating the powers of ‘media’ within urban living. Drawing on recent uses of practice theory in media studies, we highlight how thinking of media-in-practices provides a basis for more nuanced conceptualizations of the powers of the media—urban nexus. Fully realizing this conceptualization requires that the restriction of the insights of practice theory to everyday life be lifted. An expanded view of media practices is required, one which emphasizes the coordination between organized fields of communication and everyday urbanized media practices.

San Francisco Through Bogotá’s Eyes: Leveraging Urban Policy Change through the Circulation of Media Objects

“…While there has been an interest in developing a more relational vocabulary in planning and urban studies to conceptualize the urban policy process as co‐constituted by networks of humans and nonhumans that are both local and transnational, the role of the media in urban politics remains under‐explored (Ward, ; Rodgers et al ., ) despite the increasing ubiquity of the media objects in everyday life (Featherstone, ). According to Rodgers et al .…”

“…According to Rodgers et al . (), debates about media and urban politics can be divided into two threads. First, there is the traditional analysis of urban politics that focuses on studying the ways in which media elites are aligned into powerful local ‘growth machine’ coalitions.…”

“…Mediating urban policymaking: media objects and planning practice While there has been an interest in developing a more relational vocabulary in planning and urban studies to conceptualize the urban policy process as co-constituted by networks of humans and nonhumans that are both local and transnational, the role of the media in urban politics remains under-explored (Ward, 2009;Rodgers et al, 2014) despite the increasing ubiquity of the media objects in everyday life (Featherstone, 2007). According to Rodgers et al (2014), debates about media and urban politics can be divided into two threads. First, there is the traditional analysis of urban politics that focuses on studying the ways in which media elites are aligned into powerful local 'growth machine' coalitions.…”

“…For example, Greenberg (2008) has shown the role the media played in constructing and circulating a particular branding of New York aimed at selling the city. Rodgers et al (2014) argue that in both accounts, however, 'the media are seen as merely representing a preexisting world of interests and ideologies'. Instead, the authors call for a new approach in which the media and media objects are conceptualized as active agents that shape everyday practices in the city and, therefore, urban politics.…”

Roots and fields: excursions through place, space, and local in hyperlocal media

“…Adams & Jansson, 2012;Fast et al, 2017) as well as new conversations between media and urban theory (e.g. Rodgers et al, 2014;McQuire, 2016). These literatures touching on the spatialities of media are highly diverse both theoretically and methodologically.…”