[Commlist] CFP AAG 2025: Ordinary Democracy and Digital Cities

*Ordinary Democracy and Digital Cities*

Session Call for Papers (in-person and hybrid online)

2025 Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting

24-28 March 2025, Detroit, Michigan, USA

*Organisers:*

  * Dr Yu-Shan Tseng, University of Southampton, (Y-S.Tseng /at/ soton.ac.uk)
    <mailto:(Y-S.Tseng /at/ soton.ac.uk)>
  * Dr Scott Rodgers, Birkbeck, University of London,
    (s.rodgers /at/ bbk.ac.uk) <mailto:(s.rodgers /at/ bbk.ac.uk)>
*Abstract:*

We are in an era where democracy is perceived to be in constant crisis, 
marked by feelings of political powerlessness, mistrust, apathy, and 
negativity (Harrison, 2009; Clarke et al., 2017; Bissell et al., 2020). 
It may not be surprising that geographers and others researching digital 
cities - under labels such as smart cities, platform urbanism, urban AI 
and more - tend to treat democratic politics with pessimism, scepticism, 
or even antagonism. Digital cities are often seen as sites where: 
negative, polarised, or reactionary political affects become amplified; 
potential democratic subjects are nudged and targeted via algorithmic 
mediation; or public opinions, sentiments and actions are manipulated 
and managed rather than activated. For many scholars, democracy shows up 
in digital cities when it is undermined or suppressed, or emerges in the 
form of overt resistance or protest.

This call for papers seeks contributions that explore what ‘democracy’ 
means in digital cities more affirmatively and pragmatically. This 
implies two key starting points. The first is to study democracy as it 
is /ordinarily/ practised in digital cities. Following Barnett (2003; 
2017), this means exploring democratic practices as they are 
articulated, performed and felt (see also Crossan et al., 2022; Bodden, 
2023). Rather than implicitly or explicitly predefining democracy via 
universal theories or categories, we are interested in the study of how 
broadly democratic values (e.g. representation, participation, equity) 
emerge through promises or claims in situated practice.

The second starting point is to conceptualise digital cities as an 
/environmental/ condition for emerging democratic practices. Rather than 
focusing on urban political control by digital companies, subtle 
manipulation by algorithmic systems, or spectacular or extreme political 
agents or events, we are interested in how digital infrastructures, 
affordances and techniques may create new conditions of possibility for 
democratic practices in and in relation to cities. These practices may 
extend from banal practices, such as daily contributions to social 
media, to more organised practices such as civic hacking, journalism 
experiments, or political campaigning.

We hope this session will open geographic and related interdisciplinary 
perspectives that take seriously empirical investigations and situated 
accounts of digitalised places and spaces for shaping or changing 
democratic narratives, actions and empowerment. We particularly welcome 
papers addressing lesser-known geographies and/or underrepresented 
populations.

Papers may be proposed for in-person or hybrid online presentation, and 
can explore the urban democratic dimensions of topics including but not 
limited to:

  * Civic hacking, platform cooperatives and related initiatives
  * Everyday social media practices/networks and urban places/spaces
  * Open data, e-government and digital participation platforms
  * Digital education and literacy initiatives
  * Digital activism/organising practices (e.g. by political parties,
    social movements, trade unions, charities)
  * Digitalised/networked/automated urban storytelling (e.g. in fields
    such as journalism, graphic design, filmmaking, music, podcasting,
    architecture, planning)
  * Algorithmic mediations of urban participation, collaboration and
    representation
  * Smart city representations and technologies (e.g. urban digital
    twins, dashboards) as focal points for democratic politics
  * The implications of urban AI (e.g. large language models,
    text-to-image generation, robotics and automation) for democratic
    politics

We are also keen to explore the possibility of publishing a Special 
Issue in the wake of the AAG session.

Please send your 250 words proposed abstract to both 
(Y-S.Tseng /at/ soton.ac.uk) <mailto:(Y-S.Tseng /at/ soton.ac.uk)> (s.rodgers /at/ bbk.ac.uk) 
<mailto:(s.rodgers /at/ bbk.ac.uk)>  by *30 September 2024*. We are also more 
than happy to discuss your paper idea with you in advance.


/Sharable link to CFP/: bit.ly/3X7W3No <https://bit.ly/3X7W3No>

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