Urban Music Studies

Scholars Network

20/06/2025
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on Groove the City – Move the Streets 

Groove the City – Move the Streets 

Groove the City – Move the Streets

3rd International Conference of the Urban Music Studies Scholars’ Network in cooperation with the Thematic Group for Public Spaces and Urban Cultures of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP TG PSUC) 

Date: September 17-19, 2026

Location: Vienna, Austria

 

DOWNLOAD THE CALL FOR PAPERS HERE

Please submit your proposal via the online registration system before October 5th, 2025: https://www.conftool.org/groovethecity2026/ 

 

The field of Urban Music Studies has emerged as a vibrant interdisciplinary arena, exploring the dynamic interplay between music and urban life. At its core, this field recognizes sound as both a reflection and a constitutive element of urban life, deeply embedded in the spatial, social and cultural fabric of cities. Music shapes and is shaped by the rhythms of urban spaces, from bustling streets and quiet courtyards to iconic concert halls and underground clubs. This field draws upon and contributes to diverse academic disciplines. By engaging with a variety of perspectives from across the globe, it challenges dominant narratives and highlights the diverse ways in which music resonates within urban settings.

In the realms of planning, urban design and architecture, the development and envisioning of cultural organizations has traditionally been concerned with grand works of opera houses and theatre buildings. Since the 1970s, however, the focus has shifted towards the inclusion of informal and more circular cultural agencies, many of them linked to relational conceptions of space, or to the further development of immersive and acoustic technologies. Public space researchers have embraced socio-cultural aspects of urban life to cultivate hope, yet have only randomly engaged with the power of urban music subcultures and scenes, and the study thereof, to contribute to neighborhood solidarity, collective work practices when building music spaces, or to the deep democratic aspects of a diversity of music cultures, and the intermezzos and crossovers between them, in the city.

Against this backdrop, the third international conference of the Urban Music Studies Scholars’ Network Groove the City – Move the Streets, taking place from 17-19 September 2026 at mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and at TU Wien – Technische Universität Wien, in combination with the 2024-2026 event series of the Thematic Group for Public Spaces and Urban Cultures of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP TG PSUC), seeks to deepen this research field by examining the manifold mobilities that shape and are shaped by sound in urban contexts. This includes a critical engagement with the concept and materiality of “the street” as a multifaceted and symbolic terrain where social, cultural, and political processes unfold.

Streets, in their diverse manifestations, act as stages for buskers and political movements, as sites of vibrant musical scenes and cross-cultural learning, and as contested spaces where the rights to public access and representation are negotiated. The street is not merely a passageway or backdrop; it is a lived, embodied and performed space, as well as a space for hope, resistance, and transformation. It holds different meanings for various groupswhether as a cultural hub, a zone of in- and exclusion, a site of democratic everyday practice, or a canvas for reimagining the city towards more hopeful futures. From protests and demonstrations to public celebrations, cultural rituals and everyday rhythms, from marginalized communities reclaiming public spaces to ordinary performances of belonging, the relationship between music and the street reveals profound scientific insights into urban life.

In this conference, we adopt an expansive concept of (spatial) “movement” that encompasses social, cultural, and political dimensions. We are particularly interested in how “the street”— as a site of daily life, as a stage for artistic expression, as a realm of activist contestation, and political negotiation— becomes a focal point for musical practices. This conference seeks to explore how music mediates these relationships, foregrounding the tensions, solidarities, and possibilities that move the city when grooves meet the streets.

To this end, we invite scholars, practitioners, activists and artists to contribute to the conference by investigating how sound interacts with, transforms, and reimagines the streets as spaces of movement, resistance, belonging, and creativity. In doing so, we also shed light on the potentially democratizing and liberatory aspects of new sonic socio-technical approaches, and create bridges to architectural and planning practices that engage with infrastructural claims for musicians’ practices such as jamming, rehearsal, grooving and improvising.

 

Steering Committee

  • Sarah Chaker (mdw-University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna)
  • Lisa Gaupp (mdw-University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna)
  • Andrea Glauser (mdw-University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna)
  • Sabine Knierbein (TU Wien)

 

Academic and Artistic Board

  • Leni Augustin (TU Wien)
  • Alenka Barber-Kersovan (Leuphana University of Lüneburg)
  • Seo-Young Cho (mdw-University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna)
  • Gabriella Esposito de Vita (National Research Council of Italy CNR)
  • Michael Getzner (TU Wien)
  • Paula Guerra (Universidade do Porto)
  • Ebba Högström (Umeå University)
  • Volker Kirchberg (Leuphana University of Lüneburg)
  • Robin Kuchar (Leuphana University of Lüneburg)
  • Anastasiia Mazurenko (Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts)
  • Matej Nikšič (Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia)
  • Luciana Ferreira Moura Mendonça (Universidade Federal de Pernambuco)
  • Richard Pfeifer (TU Wien)
  • Karl Salzmann (Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien)
  • Will Straw (McGill University)
  • Tihomir Viderman (TU Wien)

CfP Sound, Politics, and the Urban Laboratory

13/03/2025 by Alenka Barber-Kersovan | Comments Off on CfP Sound, Politics, and the Urban Laboratory

Call for Papers: isaResearch Summer School 2025

Sound, Politics, and the Urban Laboratory

July 21–23, 2025 | Vienna

mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna

As part of isa – International Summer Academy of mdw, the isaResearch Summer School 2025 seeks to explore the dynamic relationship between sound, urban space, and politics. Thanks to its rich historical musical tradition, Vienna has been called and marketed itself as “City of Music” – a label that must be critically examined both as a trope as well as within the neoliberal logic of the creative industries.

Using the notion of the “Music City” as a starting point, the three-day workshop invites Ph.D. students and other early-stage researchers in the humanities and artistic research, specifically those immersed in music, sound, and urban studies, to present and discuss their own research around the topic. Taking place on campus of the mdw, this interdisciplinary forum seeks to examine the political economies of sonic expression and musicking in public space and urban life. We also encourage reflections on the fluid relationship between cities and music, borders and mobility.

Participants will be able to present and discuss their research project in an interdisciplinary framework. Experts in the respective field at the mdw and beyond will engage in conversations and act as respondents. The programme will also include a keynote lecture by an international expert, site-visits in the urban landscape of Vienna as well as options to participate in other isa events. The summer school thus sets out to explore the transformative role of sound in shaping public environments and to provide participants with an intimate interdisciplinary experience that fosters new networks and perspectives.

Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  • Inequality & Power Critique: How does sound influence social segregation and hierarchies in the urban environment?
  • Sound in Public Space: Sound design as a means of shaping identity, security, or control.
  • Mapping Urban Music Cultures: Historical and contemporary mappings of music venues and soundscapes as critical method.
  • Music & Community Spaces: How do musical practices contribute to the creation and transformation of community spaces, particularly for minoritarian communities?
  • Fluid Concepts: The relationship between cities and music in the context of water, borders, and mobility, e.g. the river Danube as a historical route of travel and migration
  • Music & Agency: Music as a tool for claiming urban spaces, resistance, and the ‘Right to the City.’ How do regulations and governance shape sonic expression?
  • Mental Health & Soundscapes: The impact of urban sounds on mental well-being and social
  • Genre Evolution and New Urban Sound Aesthetics: Hip-hop, electronic music, and transcultural music scenes as forms of urban self-expression

 

We invite applications from Ph.D. students and other early-stage researchers from disciplines including (but not limited to) Musicology, Dance and Performance Studies, Urban Studies, Artistic Research, Queer Theory, Cultural Studies, Music Theory, Indigenous Studies, Music Sociology, Critical Race Studies, Ethnomusicology, Popular Music Studies, Post-Colonial Studies, Art History, and Film and Media Studies. Presentation proposals should be connected to the topic of the participant’s thesis or current research project.

Attendance of the summer school is free of charge, and mdw provides lunch and refreshments on-site. Limited funding to help with travel and accommodation expenses is available. The exact amount of funding will be decided on a case-by-case basis according to the requirements of the participant. Application is possible after the acceptance of your proposal with a short description of your situation and academic affiliation (or lack thereof). We are happy to organize childcare for researchers travelling with children of any age; we kindly ask to be informed of any such needs as soon as possible after acceptance.

Applications including a title, a presentation abstract, keywords, a statement of motivation, and a short bio must be uploaded via our website. The deadline for applying is April 28, 2025.

Decisions on the acceptance of proposals will be announced in early May 2025.

Contact: Kathrin Heinrich isaresearch@mdw.ac.at

Websites:

https://www.isa-music.org/de/isaresearch/

https://www.mdw.ac.at/forschungsfoerderung/isaresearch/

 

Organization: Kathrin Heinrich, Therese Kaufmann

Academic Advisory Board:

Univ.-Prof. Dr.habil. Lisa Gaupp, Professor for Cultural Institutions, IKM

Scott L. Edwards, PhD, Institute for Musicology and Performance Studies

Dr. Magdalena Fürnkranz, Senior Scientist, Theory and History of Popular Music, iPOP

05/03/2025
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on Underground Music Cultures and Music-Making in Los Angeles

Underground Music Cultures and Music-Making in Los Angeles

This book edited by Sébastien Darchen, John Willsteed and Damien Charrieras focuses on the relationships between underground urban music cultures in Los Angeles and specific urban imaginaries related to music practices, far away and sometimes in stark opposition to the commodified image of the city crafted by urban planners and associated urban stakeholders. Rather than this commodified city, and the ‘imaginary city’ of the mind, it examines the accidental, tangential life of a mirage. The city that appears in the distance is one that is formed by songs and music-making. The book shows how counter urban imaginaries emerge and are performed through diverse underground music making practices, giving rise to alternative ways of seeing the city.

See more here Underground Music Cultures and Music-Making in Los Angeles: ‘Imaginary Cities’ | SpringerLink

17/10/2024
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on Sustainable Cities and Cultures of Music

Sustainable Cities and Cultures of Music

We are pleased to invite you to attend the ERASMUS+ (Music4Change) funded International School Sustainable Cities and Cultures of Music from November 5-8, 2024 at the University of Groningen. This school (offering 3 ECT points) is geared towards scholars and graduate students (MA and PhD) and features panels, workshops, soundwalks, concerts, and a keynote lecture by Prof. Ellen Waterman (Carleton University).

Performances and interactive music activities are planned by DJ Juan Chao (from Uruguay), Hans Fidom (Groningen’s organs), and many other local musicians.

The school is free and open for interested scholars, students, and music professionals.

To attend you can register here

17/09/2024
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on SAVE THE DATE – NEXT GROOVE THE CITY CONFERENCE IN 2026

SAVE THE DATE – NEXT GROOVE THE CITY CONFERENCE IN 2026

With great pleasure we would like to announce that the Urban Music Studies Network comes back to event activities started with the 2018 Groove the City Conferences.

And we have very good news: Groove the City is back! Save the date for „Groove the City – Move the Streets“ – our next International Urban Music Studies Conference that will be held in Vienna from Sept. 17th – 19th, 2026.

More information and Call for Papers will follow very soon…

09/08/2024
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on From Broadway to The Bronx – New York City’s History through Songs

From Broadway to The Bronx – New York City’s History through Songs

Edited by Veronika Keller and Sabrina Mittermeier this book brings a vibrant depiction of New York City in song across a variety of different genres, focusing on Broadway, musical theatre, hip hop, punk, folk, and jazz genres, as well as the work of New York born artists and those who are intimately connected with the city.
More information here https://www.intellectbooks.com/from-broadway-to-the-bronx

31/07/2024
by R. Kuchar
Comments Off on Workshop-Event: Clubsterben – Sozioökonomischer Wandel und urbane Musikkulturen

Workshop-Event: Clubsterben – Sozioökonomischer Wandel und urbane Musikkulturen

Workshop on Venues and Clubculture

On Sept. 27th and 28th, 2024, ZPKM at University of Freiburg hosts a two-day workshop on topics about music venues and clubculture. The event focuses on the ‘death of venues’ and socio-economic transformation in urban music culture. Therefore, academics, practitioners and activists present and discuss current research, developments and socio-cultural conditions of livemusic culture in Germany. See programme:

 

Hosts: Prof. Dr. Michael Fischer & Lorenz Rommelspacher

Venue: Center for Popular Culture and Music, University of Freiburg

More information and registration here.

 

 

 

28/07/2024
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on Music in Urban Tourism, Heritage Politics, and Place-Making

Music in Urban Tourism, Heritage Politics, and Place-Making

Edited by Séverin Guillard, Joseph Palis and Ola Johansson this book presents the second installment of the book series New Geographies of Music by Palgrave MacMillan. It offers an

– engaging overview of current discussions on urban music tourism & heritage politics
– features engaging global case studies and interdisciplinary analyses by global experts and
– spans the fields of urban and cultural geography, urban policy, heritage studies, music and media studies

The chapters address a range of issues, including how music shapes the “feel” of touristic towns and urban public spaces, how music scenes have an increasing role in heritage and tourism policies, and how this recognition of music has consequences on artistic practices and urban imaginaries.

More information you will find here https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-97-2072-9

16/04/2024
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on Salford Seminars in Sound and Music – Examining the health of Manchester’s vibrant music scenes in 2024

Salford Seminars in Sound and Music – Examining the health of Manchester’s vibrant music scenes in 2024

Produced in partnership with the University of Salford and UK Research and Innovation, from April 18. – April 20. 2024 four panels of industry professionals, experts and musicians will debate pressing issues faced by Manchester’s music communities. Low Four Soundcheck will conclude with a live showcase and networking evening, and live-streamed Manchester music performances. Watch and have your say online or in-person.

More information here https://www.lowfour.tv/soundcheck

24/03/2024
by Alenka Barber-Kersovan
Comments Off on Urban Mediations: International Conference on the Narratives, Ecologies, and Poetics of the City

Urban Mediations: International Conference on the Narratives, Ecologies, and Poetics of the City

 

This international, interdisciplinary conference will take place in Hong Kong, 5-6 December 2024. The conference aims to uncover emergent frameworks and methods for the interpretation and analysis of literary, filmic, and cultural texts relating to the profound transformation of cities around the world across the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.

The starting point for discussion is cities in Asia and their dialogues with different cities in the world. While “urban” typically denotes a geographical location and its inhabitants, we use it to indicate a process and practice of co-existence. The urban, in this sense, is informed by socio-cultural, economic, ecological, political, and technological processes that may appear or aspire to be global but that are, in fact, diversely lived and experienced.

The framework “urban mediations” offers a way of thinking about “the urban” not as a bounded, stable object, but as an intermediary agency that is both specific to a particular milieu and connected to people and processes elsewhere. “Mediation” extends recent work on urban infrastructure – the physical systems of connectivity that keep cities moving – to include the social, affective, aesthetic, and material relations that bind the urban to itself and to myriad elsewheres. Like the urban, mediation “is not a stable thing but a way of seeing the unstable relations among dynamically related things.”

More information here https://rih.cuhk.edu.hk/news-and-events/cfp-urban-mediations-conf-dec2024/