The Cybercities Reader Edited by Stephen Graham R Routledge‘Space of Flows, Space of Places: Materials for a Theory of Urbanism in. the Information Age’ Manuel Castells Editor's Introduction . ofthe changing nature of capital cites over tho past tity yoar ha been the ‘Catalan urban sociologist Manuel Castel. Aftr pioneering Mansist analyses ‘of cities and collective consumption ca oe and 1970s, Castel has, since the late 1860s, produced a range of Fah infuentil analyses of tho ilcatons of1CTs, andthe changing nature of capital forces hares ‘and socialand cultural change. cone publihed within Hie Blackwol books The Informational Cy (1069) ere his tlogy of books on the information Age (1998-8) Adopting « broadly coovolutorst parapectiv tothe relations betwoon 61S and ICTs, Castells centres his Aeon onthe notion that cies are caught up in @ complex itoray of what Me ‘alls the ‘space of flows! ~ Jogieal movement and fiow ~ and the 'space of the ancolerating domains of translocal and transnational techno places ~ tha goographic spaces and communitien of ovencay He netics His far-reaching analyses have essed the mmpleaion ofthe tensions between these two domains for: he evelopment of the networked Faere rossurcas and power; the changing nature of social movements ng aaa ieate; andthe changing geographical structures of ies around the wort Fa aed reading Castel gues a comprehensive ourmany of is theorist how the interactions cl the spec of flows andthe space of places combine to shape contemporary es ‘Notably, unlike Deleuze or Fie, Gostele mobis these concepts to eutain deta emia iacusion of and ‘of transformations in aide range of cities across the world. oe ar ay Casta suggests that aiculatona between the apace of flows an te Spm of places are ending to 2 vide varity of shifts of tho ways in which function, form, ane NESTS Se produced within srntomporey cto. Using this perspective, Casals explres ansfonmations the economic dynamios of cities, tian physical form the changing nature ofthe patiarchical family Whe growing muiculturlism of cites, deepening pattems of social segregation, the growing infuence of trananationst ‘organised erime, and challenges to the resaring ad nature of urban public space. Profiguring some ofthe rtlectont Section Vila this book, Castells tleo analyses the ways i wich urban planning, design and governance practices might respond to these multiple transformations. ‘One of the leading theorists ‘economy; social and cultural struga}We have entered a new age, the Information Age Spatial transformation is a fundamental dimension of the overall process of structural change. We need a new theory of spatial forms and processes, adapted to the new social. technological, and spatial context where we live. I will attempt here to propose some elements of this theory, a theory of urbanism in the information age. 1 will not develop the analysis of the meaning of the information age, taking the liberty toreferthe reader to my trlogy on the matter (Castells, 1996-2000). T will not build theory from other theories, but from the observation of social and spatial tends in the world at large, Thus, I will start with a summary ‘characterization ofthe main spatial trends atthe onset of the twenty-first century. Then I will propose 2 tentative theoretical interpretation of observed spatial trends. Subsequently I ill highlight the main issues arising in cities in the information age, with particular emphasis on the crisis of the city as a socio-spatial system of cultural communication I will conclude by Grawing some of the implications of my analysis for planning, architecture and urban design, ‘THE TRANSFORMATION OF URBAN SPACE IN THE EARLY TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY Spatial transformation must be understood in the broader context of social transformation: space does not reflect society, it expresses i, tis a fundamental dimension of society, inseparable from the overall process of social organisation and social change. Thus, the new urban world arises from within the process cf formation of a new society, the network society, characteristic of the Information Age. The key devel- ‘opments in spatial patterns and urban processes associated with these macro-structura changes, canbe summarized under the following headings (Scot, 2001) Because commercial agriculture has been, by and large, automated, and a global economy has inte- _rated productive networks throughout the planet the majority of the world’s population is already living in urban areas, and this wil be increasingly the case: we are heading towards a largely urban ied world, which will comprise between two-thirds and three-quarters ofthe total population by the rmidale of the century (Freire and Stren, 2001), ‘URBANISM IN THE INFORMATION AGE" 1 This process of urbanization is concentrated dis- proportionately in metropolitan areas of a new kind: urban constellations scattered throughout ‘huge territorial expanses, functionally integrated and socially lilferentiated, around a multi-centered structure, I call these new spatial forms metro- politan regions (Garreau, 1991; Hall, 2001; NelLo, 2001; Dunham-Jones, 2000). '® Advanced telecommunications, Internet, and fast computerized transportation systems allow for simultaneous spatial concentration and decentral- ‘zation, ushering in a new geography of networks, ‘and urban nades throughout the world, throughout ‘countries, between and within metropolitan areas (Wheeler erat, 2000). '& Social relationships are characterized simultane. ously by individuation and communalism, both processes using, at the same ime, spatial patterning and online communication, Virtual communities and physical communities develop in close inter- action, and both processes of aggregation are challenged by increasing individualization of work, social relationships, and residential habits (Russell 2000; Wellman, 1999; Putnam, 2000) 1 The crisis ofthe patriarchal family, with diferent ‘manifestations depending on cultures and levels of economic development, gradually shifts sociability from family units to networks of individualized nits (most often, women and thei ehiidren, but also individualized co-habiting partnerships). with con- siderable consequences in the uses and forms of housing, neighborhoods, public space, and trans: portation systems. 1& The emergence of the network enterprise as a new form of economic activity, with its highly decentralized, yet coordinated, form of work and management, tends toblurthe functional distinction between spaces of work and spaces of residence. ‘The work-living arrangements characteristic of the early periods of industrial craft work are back, often taking over the old industrial spaces, and transforming them into informational produetion spaces, This isnot just New York’ Silicon Alley or San Francisco's Multimedia Gulch, but a phe- romenon that also characterizes London, Tokyo, Bejing, Taipei, Paris, or Barcelona, among many other cities. Transformation of productive uses ‘becomes more important than residential succes- sion to explain the new dynamics of urban space (Mitchel, 1999; Horan, 2000},