Culture Industries in a Postindustrial Age: Entertainment, Leisure, Creativity, Design

This article reviews the evolution of the concept of culture industries, when neither industry nor culture themselves are today what they were at the time when the term was coined. It attempts to explain the dilution of the term into more nebulous terms (“leisure industries,” “entertainment industries” or “creative industries”) and suggests new challenges for the research on culture industries. What is at stake is no longer an application of a Fordist production to culture, a one-directional mass communication and a mediation by experts, but rather: (1) a cultural experience which is no longer clearly separated from other activities (leisure in general, consumption and even work); (2) the communicative explosion of all industrial production in a media environment, where industrialized symbolic products are mixed with culturalized industrial products; and (3) the empowerment of the recipient, which on one hand ignores the traditional experts and on the other leads to post-productive (recreational and even creative) cultural practices.

Urban Planning 3. Informal notes from the course's theoretical and practical content

This document compiles in an informal manner, some of the theoretical teaching content considered for the Urban Planning 3, course 2013- 2014. It also includes the outline and hand-in instructions of the two practical exercises developed during the course. The purpose of this compilation of teaching notes is to serve as reference and basis for future courses taught in English, as this was the first experience for the subject Urban Planning 3.

Communication strategies in civil movements: «Marea Blanca», «Marea Verde» and Telemadrid’s mobilization

This article analyses the importance of the communication strategies applied by three significant social movements: Telemadrid workers’ mobilization (Madrid’s public television), the «Marea Blanca» («White Tide»), which grouped up the healthcare professionals, and the «Marea Verde» («Green Tide»), which was done by teachers. These movements are a practical application of the «indignados» («outraged») movement and, following the 15-M steps, they improved these strategies in what refers to communication and mobilization. For this purpose, we carried out two investigations: twelve in-depth interviews with leading members of these social movements; and an online questionnaire passed to strategic planners who are the experts in communication strategies from the advertising agencies.