Music Cities and the Discourse of Urban Sociability

Abstract

This chapter explores the conceptual framework linked to urban sociability that offers an understanding of the life, death and rejuvenation of music cities. From the superstar music cities of London, New York City and Los Angeles to the small, more walkable music cities (such as Melbourne, Austin and Berlin) that are fast becoming competitors, it argues that the music cities’ rise can be explained via a discourse of urban sociability. In this chapter the role of urban sociability is linked to seven terms which are central to this analysis, such as, urban ecology, creative village, music clusters, music scenes, sense of place, creative cities and brand journalism. It discusses these terms across three eras, which are mainly US centric, firstly, 1900s–1930s (settlement movement and the emergence of an urban ecology); secondly, 1940s–1990s (interwar and post-war years, literary urbanists, life and death of urban sociality), and finally, 2000s onward (post-gentrification versus rejuvenation of urban ecology).