Together with my long-time friend and associate Ignacio Farías, we are contributing to the brand new edition of the Elgar Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Studies, edited by Ulrike Felt and Alan Irwin (our thanks for their curatorship and initiative!).
Our contribution seeks to re-tell what STS does as a particular form of urban storytelling, from the classic stories around the Brooklyn bridge to attempts at doing a city otherwise!
Cities: stories of urban STS
This chapter explores stories STS scholars tell about cities: a tale of field formation and transformation, as well as how the urban has de-centred the object of STS. We retell stories about cities as socio-technical infrastructures. Then we focus on stories about urban natures, activist ecologists, the city as a geological intervention, and untameable nonhuman atmospheric elements. Finally, we engage with stories about how participation and do-it-yourself activism in the infrastructuring of urban worlds re-shape what we take the city to be. Each section retells iconic stories and rehearses some key STS insights attached to them.
Recommended citation: Farías, I. & Criado, T.S. (2024). Cities: Stories of urban STS. In A. Irwin & U. Felt (Eds.) Elgar Encyclopedia of Science and Technology Studies (pp. 533-542). Edward Elgar | PDF