The Communicative City: Conceptualizing, Operationalizing, and Policy Making

Abstract

The ‘‘communicative city’’ concept focuses attention on communication patterns that connect people in cities and relationships between urban context and communication phenomena so that those who plan, design, and manage cities recognize the impact their activities have on communication and how communication affects citizens and cities in turn. This review identifies goals of a model operationalizing ‘‘communicative city’’ and characteristics of communication systems important for sustainability. The author explores the concept of communication capital for civic engagement and how to conduct community communication audits. Reversing the flow of influence, the author discusses the relationship between the natural and constructed environment and communication.