Technology and Space as Urban Forms

The text is formed out of footnotes from the lecture of Manuel Castells at GSD.
Mar. 18. 2009, Cambridge MA


The combination of informatics and telecommunication transform everyday the patterns of communication patterns in all kinds of relationships. As Richard Mayer (Professor of Psychology at the University of California) refers the cities have been always the result of their communication patterns.

In terms of concentration we already crossed over the threshold of 50% of urban population for the first time. The earth experiences the largest urbanization in history. Through observation and analysis of the contemporary social organization and the human activities we come up with the concept of a Polycentric Metropolis. While the urban sprawl is transformed in something much more massive that could be characterized as a De-centered Globalization, i.e. a multinuclear structure where the communication systems organize cities themselves as internal metropolitan networks. For example the local news of LA call the region that they refer to as the “South Land”, which includes the triangle of Santa Barbara-Tijuana-Las Vegas. This triangle translated in numbers accommodates no less than 21 million people in a multi-nuclear urban condition sprawled along 12,5 million km2. The tactic of the formation of this network reflects a manipulated real estate credit market in comparison with common communication networks i.e. economy and technology juxtapositions. The new urban geography is the overlap of amenities (urban infrastructure), chances for jobs, crime economy, informal economy etc. This urban amalgam creates a completely new issue in the planet where (1) land patterns don’t have a central political representation (2) public spaces – non functional areas ceased to exist and (3) the built points of reference (architecture) are not essential for any formation of identity.

The crisis of the already known urban or suburban space could be characterized as structural. All the latter networks are based in a financial capitalism of the easy credit. India and China are being developed in the same non-sustainable model, which is a guarantee for failure in the very near future. All-round the world the governments are shrinking the economy while ideologically there is no socialism (nevertheless corporations tend to be nationally supported). We definitely need soft design where wi-fi creates spontaneously self-organized public space and immigrants produce financial mechanisms through informal structures. Instead of rigid architectural structures we could force LeCorbusier to ride a bike.

Manuel Castells

Edit. Yannis Kitanis