Glossary

City: The term city is used in case the article is written based on a phenomenon or an event which happened in a specific city.

Contact theory: The contact theory says that when people meet and have the opportunity to get to know each other, many prejudices are opposed and can learn from each other. So that the interaction and understanding for each other in society becomes better. (cf. Sturgis 2014)

Cosmopolitanism: Cosmopolitanism has not a clear definition. It has a long development history and the origin comes from an philosophical ideology. Cosmopolitanism means not belonging to a certain community or nation, rather to the species human, belonging to the world. Often called a world citizen.

Digital screens: Digital screens are often used for advertisement. They can be found all around cities. They are digital posters, the further development of posters.

Gentrification: Gentrification is a process within cities. A certain area which was not that popular for living but had advantages like small rents are affected. People who lived there enhanced the status of this area by finding creative solutions to improve and beautify that area. During this on-going improvement rents rise and the people who initiate this improvement cannot afford to live there anymore.

Geocommunities: Geocommunities are sometimes even called Maps 2.0. Those are sharing geotagged information. Flicker for example is one of them. It automatically geo-tags uploaded photographs. (cf. Thielmann 2010)

Mediated: Something is called mediated when it’s communicated through media.

Mediatization: The word Mediatization contains several aspects:
Communication is deeply intertwined in a process of mediatization (mediated communication, media-related communication, emergence of media culture, mediatized forms of communication). Each part itself and especially all together are influencing cultural and social entities worldwide. New media is launched and spreads rapidly around the globe, accompanied with changing demands and expectations and media usage. Mediatization, is a concept which describes the changes in reference to media as well as its consequences and impact on societies. (cf. Friedrich 2014)

Media geography: This research field of geography deals with „approaches on how geographies are communicated through visual media; how this communicated knowledge affects audiences‘ life-worlds; and, the awareness of the close connection between geographers and journalist who share an interest in important societal questions, whilst using altered approaches“ (Zimmermann 2007:61). Moreover, media geography investigates the accessibility to independent media institutions as well as informations flows are spread and consumed. (cf. Zimmermann 2007)

Place: A place is a physical location with certain coordinates to locate it. (cf. Adams 2014)

Place Branding: The activities of place branding position a city and point out it’s positive and appealing sides. The target groups can anyone, for example the economic market or tourists. Commercial spots, logos, slogans, movie festivals which promote the city or the region are commonly used. The promotion through many different formats of visual media is building a postmodern kind of identity. (cf. Stöber 2006)

Planetary urbanization: A urban theory to describe the influence of urbanization onto the spatial environement and people’s lifes. (cf. Brenner, Schmidt 2015)

Reappropriation: Places often are controlled by external forces and excluding citizens from getting involved in the development of places. A reappropriation is the winning-back of participations right for certain locations. Reappropriation is part of a place-making. (cf. Kaschuba 2013)

Simulacrum: The term comes from Latin and is composed of simulo (image, illusion) and simulo (similar, equal). According to Baudrillard, the „illusion“ is constructed though the reality of media society. The media image of past and present thus replaces the knowledge of reality. Ultimately, the simulacra established a hyper-reality from which real events emerge. (cf. Baudrillard 2002)

Social cohesion: It is an ongoing process. The development of a community of shared values, common challenges and equal opportunities. Social cohesion builds on hope, trust and reciprocity. It is the being together, not being alone, that gives strength and security. (cf. Jeannotte, 1997) (cf. Council of Europe, 2001) Click here to learn more about social cohesion

Space: A space is independent from a certain and fixed location. It can evolve based on different locations, a network, in the virtual or through any other communication technology these day. (cf. Adams 2014)

Space – Place – Media

Examples are provided in the fitting blogpost. Click here.

• Place in Media: A (fictional) place shown in a movie.
• Media in Place: A digital advertisement screen in a city’s square.
• Space in Media: The world of a video game creates a space with all its virtual world, its team players and their communication with one another.
• Media in Space: „Private sonic bubbles“ as someone is listing to music over headphones to suppress the sounds of the real environment.
  (cf. Adams 2014)

Stereotypes: Stereotypes usually serve to classify a group of people or individuals. They usually consist of clichés and frequently occurring behaviour patterns of individual subgroups, which are transferred to the entire group.

The Urban: It’s a concept which is not specifically bound to a certain location with certain characteristics. Some concepts of the urban are introduced in this post: The formless Boundaries of a city.

Urban Identity: Identities are not fixed, they are constantly negotiated. Crisis and everyday struggles are some factors which push people closer and by which a commonly identity among affected people can flourish. Thus, a certain identity among a community is created. (cf. Kaschuba 2015)

Urban Way of Life: The urban way of life cannot only be practiced in cities, it can also be lived in rural areas. Basically, it describe a certain way of life which is independent from the spatial locations, it is rather about practices.
(cf. Merrifield 2013)

Urbanization: Urbanization is understood as a process. A process which started during the industrialization. People were pulled towards cities and cities grew. Today the comprehension of urbanization extended: Urbanization affects all spatial areas, lifestyles, organization flows which lead to an urban way of life. (cf. Leitner 2015)

References:

• Adams P. C. (2014): A Ashgate Research Companion to Media Geography. Introduction, pp. 1-14
• Baudrillard J. (2002): Simulacra and Simulation; University of Michigan Press 2002
• Brenner N., Schmidt C. (2015): Towards a new epistemology of the urban?. In: City 19/2-3, pp. 151-182
• Kaschuba, W. (2015): Urbane Identitäten – oder: Stadtkultur als Vogel Phönix. In: Forum Wohnen und Stadtentwicklung. Bundesverband für Wohnen und Stadtentwicklung e. V. 
• Kaschuba, W. (2013): Vom Tahrir-Platz in Kairo zum Hermannplatz in Berlin: Urbane Räume als “Claims” und “Commons”? Raumanthropologische Betrachtungen. In: Kontrolle öffentlicher Räume. Unterstützen. Unterdrücken. Unterhalten, pp. 20-56
• Krotz, F. (2014): Media, Mediatization and Mediatized Worlds: A Discussion of the Basic Concepts. In: Hepp, Anderas & Friedrich Krotz (2014) (editors): Mediatized Worlds. Culture and Society in a Media Age, pp. 72-87
• Leitner J. (2015): Das Urbane wachsen sehen. Zum Verständnis von Urbanität innerhalb eines Gemeinschaftsgartenprojekts unter kritischer Analyse neoliberaler Stadtentwicklungsstrukturen. Masterarbeit. Wien
• Merrifield A. (2013): The urban Question under Planetary Urbanization. In: International Journal of Urban and Regional Research. Vol 37.3. pp. 909-22
• Stöber B. (2006): Von „brandneuen“ Städten und Regionen – Place Branding und die Rolle der visuellen Medien. In: Social Geography Discussions. Vol 2.
• Thielmann T. (2010): Locative Media and Mediated Localities. An Introduction to Media Geography. In: aether. The Journal of Media Geography. Vol. V.A., pp. 1-17
• Zimmermann, S. (2007): Media Geographies: Always Part of the Game. In: aether. the journal of media geography, Vol. 1, pp. 59-62