Abstract
Despite the research tradition in analyzing public communication, local public spheres have been rather neglected by communication science, although they are crucial for social cohesion and democracy. Existing empirical studies about local public spheres are mostly case studies which implicitly assume that cities are alike. Based on a participatory-liberal understanding of democracy, we develop a theoretical framework, from which we derive a monitor covering structural, social, and spatial aspects of local communication to empirically compare local public spheres along four dimensions: (1) information, (2) participation, (3) inclusion, and (4) diversity. In a pilot study, we then apply our monitor to four German cities that are comparable in size and regional function (‘regiopolises’). The monitoring framework is built on local statistical data, some of which was provided by the cities, while some came from our own research. We show that the social structures and the normative assessment of the quality of local public spheres can vary among similar cities and between the four dimensions. We hope the innovative monitor prototype enables scholars and local actors to compare local public spheres across spaces, places, and time, and to investigate the impact of social change and digitalization on local public spheres.
Highlights
Public communication is essential in democracies, a pre‐ requisite for understanding political decisions and their consequences, enabling citizens to participate in soci‐ ety
While these studies focus on specific topics or media ecologies in single or a few cities and because results are hardly comparable to other studies in the field, our aim is to provide a framework which: a) provides an overview of the local public sphere which goes beyond a single media ecology; b) allows the comparison of a larger number of local public spheres by focussing on aspects of the local public sphere which can be quantified or where statistical data is widely available; and c) is intended to allow comparisons over time to mea‐ sure changes in the local public sphere which happen for example due to technical, political, or societal change
While it is utopian to assume a city could reach a full score in all variables, the value of monitoring and comparing local public spheres regarding information, participation, inclusion, and diversity lies in identifying strengths and weaknesses, room for improvement, and best‐practices
Summary
Public communication is essential in democracies, a pre‐ requisite for understanding political decisions and their consequences, enabling citizens to participate in soci‐ ety. There are case studies focusing on public communication on specific topics (e.g., Friedland et al, 2007) or stud‐ ies on local media ecologies (e.g., Coleman et al, 2016). While these studies focus on specific topics or media ecologies in single or a few cities and because results are hardly comparable to other studies in the field, our aim is to provide a framework which: a) provides an overview of the local public sphere which goes beyond a single media ecology; b) allows the comparison of a larger number of local public spheres by focussing on aspects of the local public sphere which can be quantified or where statistical data is widely available; and c) is intended to allow comparisons over time to mea‐ sure changes in the local public sphere which happen for example due to technical, political, or societal change
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