New book examines digital experiences of urban change

The book considers how the pervasiveness of digital technologies is transforming the way we feel about cities, and how new urban developments are mediated through technologies such as CGI, smart city apps and social media platforms. It examines three examples of urban change in which digital technologies of different kinds were central: a large-scale urban redevelopment in Doha; the retrofitting of Milton Keynes to become a smart city; and the cultural regeneration of Smithfield Market into the Culture Mile in London.

"Cities are changing fast and many people now use digital technologies to navigate urban life: travelling, eating, socialising are often done with the help of apps. Cities are also the sites of a lot of change in their physical fabric, mostly private developments that are marketed to make profits for their developers.

 

"This book explores how both of those trends converge and generate changes in how cities are experienced sensorially. How does a city look and feel different when its future is imagined by computer generated images, when journeys through it are shaped by Google Maps and CityMapper, and when we see urban locations through Instagram posts? The book describes some of the sensations generated by these digital versions of urban change and considers how they are different for different people in different places."

- Prof. Gillian Rose.

The New Urban Aesthetic is essential reading for researchers and students in urban studies, architecture, digital studies, sociology, and human geography. The book has been published by Bloomsbury and is available as a hardback or to download from the Bloomsbury website.