Media Industries and Cities

This collection investigates how cities have become centres for media industries, examining how local operations are shaped by global flows of finance, technology and creative labour, and how media industries contribute to urban identity and cultural life.

Written by field experts and based on extensive primary research, this book provides readers with comprehensive analysis of the complex relationship between media industries and cities across diverse global contexts. The twelve chapters examine examples from Asia, Europe and North America, covering film, television, music, games and journalism to demonstrate how media–city relationships take distinctive forms in specific locations. Readers will gain in-depth understanding of how global media flows interact with local urban contexts, and how these interactions produce cultural, economic, political and social consequences. The collection combines broad theoretical analysis with detailed case studies, advancing debates in the field of Media Industry Studies through analysing the media’s multifaceted relationship to cities in a highly accessible way.

This book is essential reading for undergraduates, postgraduates and academic researchers in Communications, Cultural Studies, Media Studies and Film and Television Studies, particularly those studying or researching media industries, global media flows, media economics, cultural production and the intersection of media and place.

Andrew Spicer is Professor of Cultural Production at the University of the West of England, Bristol. His recent publications include Sean Connery: Acting, Stardom and National Identity (2022); Go West! 2.5: Bristol’s Film and Television Industries (2025), co-authored with Jelena Krivosic; and The Politics of Place: Space and Location in European Screen Industries (2026) co-edited with Ruth Barton and Amy Genders.

Paul McDonald is Professor of Media Industries at King’s College London. Recent publications include editing The Routledge Companion to Media Industries (2022), and co-editing Locating Media Industries: Spaces, Places, Platforms (2026), Global Film Policies: New Perspectives (2025), and Digital Media Distribution: Portals, Platforms, Pipelines (2021).