City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn

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Overview

Entertaining, concise, and relentlessly probing, City of Bits is a comprehensive introduction to a new type of city, an increasingly important system of virtual spaces interconnected by the information superhighway. William Mitchell makes extensive use of practical examples and illustrations in a technically well-grounded yet accessible examination of architecture and urbanism in the context of the digital telecommunications revolution, the ongoing miniaturization of electronics, the commodification of bits, and ...

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Overview

Entertaining, concise, and relentlessly probing, City of Bits is a comprehensive introduction to a new type of city, an increasingly important system of virtual spaces interconnected by the information superhighway. William Mitchell makes extensive use of practical examples and illustrations in a technically well-grounded yet accessible examination of architecture and urbanism in the context of the digital telecommunications revolution, the ongoing miniaturization of electronics, the commodification of bits, and the growing domination of software over materialized form.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
"Winston Churchill once said that we make our buildings and our buildings make us.

With refreshing wit and lucid writing, Mitchell succeeds in updating that aphorism for the computer age." John W. Verity Business Week

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Digital technology is turning traditional architectural theory and planning upside down, contends Mitchell, who teaches architecture and media arts at MIT. In this rigorous, highly engaging study, he charts both the architecture of cyberspace and the transformation of buildings and living space in the information age. Examining a wide range of digital phenomena, such as the Internet, encryption tools, the major online services and virtual reality, he explains that the architectural paradigms put forth by civic planners and critics, from Aristotle to Baron Haussmann and Lewis Mumford, do not apply to cyberspace. Mitchell argues that online communities, transcending geographic boundaries and social contexts, offer new ways of thinking about urban design, private and public space, the separation of work and home life and personal identity. In more speculative chapters, he walks us through the changes in civic institutions such as libraries, hospitals, museums, banks and bookstores, changes made possible by computer technology. Complete with architectural blueprints, illustrations of digital gadgetry and an index of related Internet ``surf sites,'' this is a particularly clever and evocative look at the ``soft cities'' of the 21st century. (Sept.)
Booknews
Mitchell (architecture and media arts and sciences, MIT) discusses the virtual city which, while largely invisible, serves as an increasingly important system of interconnected links which is increasingly replacing traditional centers of community activity. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780262631761
  • Publisher: MIT Press
  • Publication date: 8/1/1996
  • Edition description: New Edition
  • Pages: 231
  • Sales rank: 1,308,959

Table of Contents

1 Pulling Glass 2
2 Electronic Agoras 6
3 Cyborg Citizens 26
4 Recombinant Architecture 46
5 Soft Cities 106
6 Bit Biz 132
7 Getting to the Good Bits 162
Notes 175
Surf Sites 209
Acknowledgments 215
Index 217
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