Digital technologies and sexualities in urban space

In this chapter we explore how lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer (LGBTQ) people's engagement with the internet and new media might be implicated in contemporary transformations in LGBT and queer urban landscapes in the Global North, particularly in ways that rework sexual and gendered sociospatial relations across urban space. Substantial scholarship details LGBT and queer people's distinctive relationship with urban locations, especially in cities in the Global North where highly visible and vibrant gay villages are important inner-city landscapes (Castells, 1983; Lauria and Knopp, 1985; Adler and Brenner, 1992; Florida, 2002; Nash, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2013a; Podmore, 2006, 2013b; Mowlabocus, 2010b; Gorman-Murray and Waitt, 2009; see also Section 1, 'Urban Sexualities'). Contemporary scholarship suggests that many well-established locations are undergoing some sort of transformation, variously described as a 'decline' or 'decaying', and suggesting a diminishing economic, social and political importance in queer lives (see Collins, 2004a; Ruting, 2008; nash, 2013a, 2013b). At the same time, alternative sexual and gendered landscapes are emerging for some queer people who, as a result of legal, social and political changes, are increasingly integrated into urban residential neighbourhoods and entertainment districts, and have greater opportunities to be visible across a variety of queer-friendly landscapes (Visser 2008a; Gorman-Murray and Waitt, 2009; Nash, 2013a, 2013b)