ABSTRACT
This chapter asserts the primacy of space in the study of mediated cities by focusing on spatial articulation of both symbolic and material dimensions of urban media and communication. Reading the multimedia set-up of contemporary cities as multispace might help us appreciate the vast varieties of construction, use, interpretation and inhabitancy of the incredibly diverse urban world, consisting of anything from high-tech business centers to suburban settlements with makeshift utility poles. Communication always implies an extension or an implied or inferred presence of an elsewhere within “here”. This relation forms the basis for a spatial understanding of technologies like telegraphy, railroads, public service broadcasting and high-speed internet for social phenomena such as the empire, nation, tourism, trade, exile and diaspora. Space is not meant to replace media and communication entirely but to provide a method for a multidimensional understanding of their relevance for studying cities. Geographical studies of multiplicity prioritized space but did not negate the relevance of time.
