[Commlist] Call for contributors: The Synthetic City conference

*The Synthetic City*

*Potentials, Politics and Everyday Life*

6-7 September 2023

Dublin City University, Ireland

Abstract submission deadline: 2 June 2023 (midnight anywhere in world)

Conference website: https://syntheticcity2023.wordpress.com/ 
<https://syntheticcity2023.wordpress.com/>

*Call for contributors*

/syn·​thet·​ic/, adjective

devised, arranged, or fabricated for special situations to imitate or 
replace usual realities

/syn·​the·​sis/, noun

the composition or combination of parts or elements so as to form a whole

In less than a year, the release of tools such as the large language 
model-based chatbot ChatGPT and image generation platforms like DALL-E 
or Midjourney has given rise to lively discussion and urgent questions 
around the potential of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) based 
systems. Debates around AI are a sharp reminder of the deepening 
interconnections of digital technologies and human life, which are 
particularly pervasive and tangible – if not always immediately visible 
– in urban spaces. Already captured through terms such as ‘algorithmic 
cities’, ‘data-driven urbanism’, ‘code/spaces’ and ‘sentient cities’, 
urban environments have for some time been understood as emergent venues 
for various kinds of computational agency, ranging from surveillance 
systems, delivery apps and neighbourhood social media to automated 
infrastructures, outdoor advertising and digital art.

This conference puts forward the notion of ‘the synthetic city’ as a 
provocation for thinking through the potentials, politics, and everyday 
implications of these long-term and more recent developments in 
digitalising urban life. As the above definitions imply, we intend ‘the 
synthetic city’ to relate to both /synthetic/ and /synthesis/: the 
former captures how AI and related digital technologies might imitate or 
replace human agency (e.g. with ‘synthetic’ data being used to generate 
various urban simulations, whether for critical infrastructure, leisure 
or gaming environments); whereas the latter captures how these same 
technologies always-already involve combinations of computational and 
human agency (e.g. unfolding alongside the dynamics of everyday 
routines, political interests, institutions, and so on).

We therefore welcome a range of contributions, exploring both the 
technologies as such, as well as the broader social, cultural and 
political contexts of the synthetic city. Topics of interest include, 
but are not limited to:




  * How AI-based applications potentially reshape or restructure urban
    material spaces and their inhabitation
  * Artworks or models (e.g. performances, illustrations, mock-ups,
    simulations) that speculate or envision the near (and far) future of
    urban living
  * Virtual and augmented reality in urban design and art
  * The impacts of machine learning and predictive modelling on urban
    planning and design
  * Smart cities, the Internet of Things and platform urbanism
  * The changing relationships between automation processes (including
    robotics) with urban services and labour
  * The ethics and governance of synthetic urbanism
  * Counterculture and protest movements questioning and contesting the
    digitalisation of cities
  * Algorithmic mediations of public participation and collaboration in
    urban/neighbourhood life
  * How automated content production tools reshape how fields such as
    journalism, graphic design, filmmaking, music (and more) might
    relate to and tell stories about cities
  * How digital platforms help to transform how urban environments and
    daily life is navigated and mapped
  * The political potential of reappropriating and repurposing digital
    media and automated systems
  * Withdrawal and disconnection from the synthetic city

We welcome work-in-progress contributions as well as finished works, 
encompassing research into both current and future developments, with 
empirical, theoretical, or methodological focus, and from a broad 
spectrum of disciplines (e.g. communication and media studies, 
sociology, human geography, urban studies, or science and technology 
studies). Participants can submit one of three types of submissions:




 1. *Individual papers*: Please submit an abstract (250-300 words),
    biographical statement (50-75 words) and contact information for all
    authors.
 2. *Practice-based interventions*(e.g. screenings, illustrations,
    performances, installations) exploring the conference themes more
    experimentally. Please submit an abstract (250-300 words) and a
    biographical statement (50-75 words) alongside contact information
    for all authors. The abstract should describe the scope of the
    project as well as equipment, space and time needed (as relevant).
 3. *Paper of panel session*: Please submit an abstract (250-300 words)
    describing the overall theme of the session. In the case of a paper
    session, this will be followed by  an abstract (250-300 words),
    biographical statement (50-75 words) and contact information for the
    author(s) of each paper. In the case of a panel discussion, please
    provide biographical statements (50-75 words) and contact
    information for all panellists.
Abstracts must be submitted by 2 June 2023 (by midnight anywhere in 
world) to (mediacity.twg /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(mediacity.twg /at/ gmail.com)>. 
Notification of acceptance will be sent by 23 June 2023.

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