MediaCity 4: MediaCities International Conference, Workshops and Exhibition University at Buffalo, The State University of New York Conference Chairs: Jordan Geiger, Omar Khan, Mark Shepard May 3-5, 2013

Disciplines: Architecture, Art, Geography, Media, Sociology, Computer Science, Interaction Design, Urban Planning Deadline: 12 November, 2012

The fourth MediaCity conference reflects on pluralities and globalities, on MediaCities everywhere. 

What new lines of inquiry and emergent relations between urbanity and digital media are found in non-Western cities, in post-Capitalist cities, in cities hosting civic turbulence or crossing international boundaries? What urban-medial relations are taking shape differently in urban milieux that may have been heretofore overlooked? These cities are deserving of more attention than ever before, as sites of population growth, of new cultural and social formations, of new entanglements between urban life and contemporary media, communications and information technologies, and more. MediaCities promises to expand our understanding of both media and the city today, and to articulate new sites of practice and working methods for an expanding field. 

Areas of interest may fall broadly into several themes, with the assumption that others will appear in the process of proposals and discussion leading up to the event, always expanding our lexicon and mental maps of MediaCities globally. These themes are: Other Urbans, Uncommons, Zero Growth Cities, Media Geographies and Bordervilles.

Submission Requirements Paper abstracts Due 12 November, 2012 by 11:59pm GMT, uploaded to the conference’s EasyChair website, http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mc4 Abstracts should address global pluralities of MediaCities as the focus in this year's conference, whether that corresponds to one of the sample topics described on the conference website or one of your own interest. The proposed presentation may relate academic research, a creative project or other subject matter but should not exceed 500 words. Abstracts will be double blind peer-reviewed by representatives of a wide range of expertise in relations between media and urban issues today. Send questions to chairs [at] media cities [dot] net