Session at the European Association for Urban History Conference: Cities in Motion 2020

As dependence on infrastructures has been growing, the entanglement between technological networks and everyday life has been still tighter. Urban citizens, officials, tourists and decision makers are increasingly interacting with clusters of infrastructure, multiplying from the roll-out of urban networks in mid-19th century to the GPS, IOT and Artificial Intelligence of the Smart City era.

From a culture of public control, a splintering of these networks has happened, multiplying the actors and materialities of them on one hand. On the other, the use of them and the resources and communications they provide, is still on an explosive rise. Despite this development, the everyday use of infrastructures in urban society has not been dealed with extensively.

A key point form which to enter this complex field is through the notion of consumption. Often, use of urban provision is unclearly posited between the right of the citizen on one hand, and a service for the consumer on the other. This is one axis along which to think networked urban demand. Another is the interweaving of the everyday practice and the networked clusters of infrastucture that we as urbanites today take for granted.

Proposals can contribute along one or both of these axes, or more broadly discuss the relation between infrastructure and eceryday life related to consumption or consumer practices.

  • Spokesperson: Mikkel Thelle, Aarhus University
  • Co-organizer(s): Stefan Höhne, Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities | Mikkel Høghøj, Aarhus University
  • Keywords: Urban infrastructure | Consumption history | Everyday practices
  • Time period: Modern period
  • Topic(s): Cultural | Social
  • Study area: More than one continent