De-westernizing mediated city research: display and decay in Zagreb’s urban signage

Abstract

ABSTRACT Studies of mediated cities argue that urban signage (public screens, outdoor advertising, media façades) symbolizes the centrality of communication in post-industrial urbanism. This correct general argument also tends to be geographically limited to centrally positioned cities in a service economy. I explore how the peripheral position of Zagreb, constructed during permanent political transition (Austro-Hungarian Empire, Yugoslavia, EU, etc.) has made its urban signage especially diverse and seemingly chaotic. I argue that relating urban communication to national and transnational identities offers important, under-explored directions for research, particularly reminding us that display usually also means the opposite.