1st Edition
Making the Digital City The Early Shaping of Urban Internet Space
Since the late 1990s, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been hailed as a potentially revolutionary feature of the planning and management of Western cities. Economic regeneration and place promotion strategies have exploited these new technologies; city management has experimented with electronically distributed services, and participation in public life and democratic decision-making processes can be made more flexible by the use of ICTs. All of these technological initiatives have often been presented and accessed via an urban front-end information site known as 'digital city' or 'city network.' Illustrated by a range of European case studies, this volume examines the social, political and management issues and potential problems in the establishment of an electronic layer of information and services in cities. The book provides a better understanding of the direction European cities are going towards in the implementation of ICTs in the urban arena.
Biography
Alessandro Aurigi, Alessandro is Professor of Urban Design in the School of Architecture, Design and Environment at the University of Plymouth. He holds a Laurea in Architecture from Florence University, Italy, and a PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He has worked previously at University College London. His main research interest is studying the relationships between the emergence of the 'information society' and the ways we imagine, conceive, represent, and manage buildings and cities.
’Alex Aurigi has done a splendid job bringing together developments in information and communication technologies which underpin the emergence of the digital city. In this summary of developments in European cities, he shows how city governments are exploiting these new technologies to deliver better services and promote better planning. This book is a must for anyone who wishes to understand the way the digital revolution is transforming our cities.’ Michael Batty, University College London, UK ’Excavating far beneath the hype of the digital revolution, Aurigi provides an impressive analysis of the reality of digital cities. His fascinating cross-national perspective underlines the ways in which digital innovations are deeply rooted in the cultures, politics and governance of their host city. This will be a must-read for all those interested in how digital technologies, urban spaces, and the politics of cities are influencing each other.’ Stephen Graham, University of Durham, UK ’...an academic book with a reliable methodology and a well-designed survey. Written in a clear style, it is without doubt a useful resource to understand the difficult issues which are at stake in this sort of urban initiative.’ Journal of Housing and the Built Environment
