Cities and information technology: Five features and five working hypotheses

The alloy of new information technology and new capitalism forges a powerful chisel carving the city. What are the features of this city? It is a city, we claim, where the real and the virtual melt together, where the new capitalism is liberated from the slavery of territory, and where liquid city becomes city without inhabitants. We discuss these claims in the first part of the paper. Then, in the second we lay down five working hypotheses for a process of renovatio urbis, and how we practitioners, planners and architects can and should actively contribute to it. The five working hypothesis go through the rediscovery of the sense of limit, participation (if and when possible), planning for the entire city, empowerment and involvement of social energies, and by being technologically modern.