Overview

"The global digital network is not just a delivery system for e-mail, Web pages and digital television. It is a whole new urban infrastructure - one that will change the forms of our cities as dramatically as railroads, highways, electric power supply and telephone networks did in the past. In this book, William J. Mitchell examines this new infrastructure and its implications for our future daily lives. Picking up where his book ""City of Bits"" left off, Mitchell argues that we must extend the definitions of architecture and urban design to encompass virtual places as well as physical ones, and interconnection by means of telecommunication links as well as by pedestrian circulation and mechanized transportation systems. He proposes strategies for the creation of cities that not only will be sustainable but will make economic, social and cultural sense in an electronically interconnected and global world. The new settlement patterns of the 21st century will be characterized by live/work dwelllings, 24-hour pedestrian-scale neighbourhoods rich in social relationships, and vigorous local community life, complemented by far-flung configurations of electronic meeting places and decentralized production, marketing and distribution systems. Neither digiphile nor digiphobe, Mitchell advocates the creation of e-topias - cities that work smarter, not harder."

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... e-topia is a good primer for anyone interested in how we are going to inhabit the digital era. Lawrence Chua, Bookforum E-topia offers a brilliant and succinct lesson on how the evolution of information and other technologies has altered the way we build workplaces and communities, manage relationships, and supply our material wants and needs. It unobtrusivelylays digital technology into historical and material context, renderingit this way as something not to fear. Randall Lyman , San Francisco Bay Guardian Mitchell has done it again! This dazzling survey of the cyberfuture andits impact on urban life shows that he is still the world's foremostauthority on the subject. Sir Peter Hall , Bartlett Professor of Planning, University College London Few people understand the challenges and opportunities of emerging networksociety better than William J. Mitchell. A visionary with a program,Mitchell not only points us toward a new future but also shows us how toget there. Anyone interested in the shape of life in the 21st centuryshould read this book. Mark C. Taylor , Director of the Center for Technology in the Arts and Humanities, Williams College E-topia offers a brilliant and succinct lesson on how the evolution of information and other technologies has altered the way we build workplaces and communities, manage relationships, and supply our material wants and needs. It unobtrusivelylays digital technology into historical and material context, renderingit this way as something not to fear. Randall Lyman , San Francisco Bay Guardian

Few people understand the challenges and opportunities of emerging network society better than William J. Mitchell. A visionary with a program, Mitchell not only points us toward a new future but also shows us how to get there. Anyone interested in the shape of life in the 21st century should read this book. --Mark C. Taylor, Director of the Center for Technology in the Arts and Humanities, Williams College

Author Information

William J. Mitchell was the Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr., Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences and directed the Smart Cities research group at MIT's Media Lab. He authored many books, including The World's Greatest Architect (2008) and Placing Words: Symbols, Space, and the City (2005), both published by the MIT Press.

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