Anti-cafe, fast food as a media and pop-up park: post-virtuality and city 3.0 in Russia

Mediated urban geography is one of the most popular subdisciplines of contemporary urban communication studies. It examines the influence of media technologies on urban environment and interaction of its inhabitants. Thorough analysis of multiple sources in this field let reveal three paradigms of mediated urban geography: pre-virtuality (1950s -1970s), virtuality (1990s - early 2000s), and post-virtuality (since mid-2000s). The key regulatory model of the post-virtual model of mediated urban geography is City 3.0, where physical and electronic spaces complement each other by combining new media technologies with traditional forms of interpersonal communication. In modern Russia this model manifests itself in such processes as the development of third places (anticafes, coworkings, revitalized parks and libraries) and new urban communication practices (pop-up cafes, verbal book reviews exchange, quest rooms, etc.). These manifestations do not still dominate in Russian urban culture - they rather create numerous spatial and temporal enclaves like "City Picnic" Omsk project. In understanding smell as playing an active role in the creation of meaning, not only are current debates surrounding geographies of smell extended, but it is argued that addressing the relatively neglected sensual dimension of the social provides an avenue into more nuanced dimensions of urban transition.