Electronic Cities

‘Electronic Cities: Music, Policies and Spaces in the 21st Century is a welcome contribution to the “urban turn” in popular music studies. It moves beyond the analysis of styles and venues, setting musical practice within complex networks of policy, economic history and metropolitan politics. These fascinating case studies take us beyond the self-proclaimed “capitals” of electronic music, into a rich variety of cities whose abandoned urban spaces became breeding grounds for music seeking to invent new futures.’—Will Straw, Department of Art History and Communications Studies, McGill University, Montreal
This book examines Electronic Dance Music (EDM) scenes in 18 cities across Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. It focuses on the historical development of these scenes, with an emphasis on the post-2000 context, including the COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching effects. Expert contributors highlight the influence of geographical contexts, as well as cultural and political histories, in the development of mainstream EDM scenes and underground Electronic Dance Music Cultures. This expansive work offers additional insights on cultural and creative policies, planning interventions and regulations associated with nightlife management, and provides a detailed analysis of current challenges inherent to the governance of EDM scenes in contemporary cities.