Space and Culture

CFP: M/C Journal: Street

“Street in its most conventional sense represents the link between physical places, but more than that, they are spaces where cultural negotiations are made. They are everyday spaces where the informal meets the formal, and the public meets the private. In other words, they are spaces where unanticipated, sudden encounters may take place, or where ordinary space may be made special. Their utilitarian purpose may be subverted and they become spaces for Formula 1 races, charity runs, street parties, revolutions, protests, and markets. They may be formal sites known for consumption, entertainment, and recreation or where drugs, sex and gambling are found behind closed doors.

Streets are not accidents, they are shaped by social and economic change and in popular media are often seen as shorthand for class and lifestyle differentiation – think Coronation Street, Sesame Street, 42nd Street, Wisteria Lane (Desperate Housewives), or Ramsey Street (Neighbours). They are sites of social inclusion and exclusion – loitering on the street, street kids, living on the street, wrong side of the street, and graffiti on the street all present conflicting notions surrounding shared city spaces.

Yet, knowing your back streets distinguishes one as a local from the outsider. Being street wise is integral to top selling computer games like Grand Theft Auto, Gangland or Sim City, where the strategy lies in competent negotiation of streets. Street credibility is the badge of acceptance for the privileged outsider.

The street is thus a transformative site, given to different cultural practices and a multiplicity of uses. This issue of M/C Journal invites articles relating to ’street’ on any of the range of themes outlined above.”

Article deadline: 1 May 2006

Release date: 28 June 2006

Send any enquiries, and complete articles, to street@journal.media-culture.org.au