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Localised online misinformation: Unpacking the objects and mediums of polarised sustainable urban transport issues in London and the UK

Faculty-led
January 15, 2024 - January 16, 2024

In the lead up to the coming London Mayoral election (and likely UK General Election), sustainable urban transport policies have become increasingly politicised ‘wedge issues’. Seemingly technical and uncontroversial interventions such as Low-Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs), Greater London’s Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), and ambitions for ‘15-minute cities’ have not only become polarising topics, but also have occasionally been framed within the so-called culture wars, and even made the subject of conspiracy theories. This presentation argued that understanding these developments means thinking about how different publics form around such urban sustainability interventions. Firstly, this entails attending to how such publics often coalesce around very specific, material interventions and issues; and secondly, it means attending to the mediums through which these publics communicate about issue-based controversies, notably via social media. Scott explored this with reference to a case study of a proto-LTN controversy: the ‘Mini Holland’ programme in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, which emerged prior to the rapid implementation of several similar initiatives across the UK, largely in response to Covid-19 restrictions. This was followed by an outline of current collaborative research under development, intending to study the online dynamics of controversies around LTNs, Greater London’s ULEZ, and 15 minute cities as they coincide with the forthcoming London and UK elections. This webinar was led by Scott Rodgers, Reader in Media and Geography, School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication, Birkbeck, University of London (within Siarhei Liubimau’s EHU course “Cities and Digitalisation”).