Author William Mitchell provides a history lesson about the role of information and technology. Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mitchell makes a convincing case that we must extend the definitions of architecture and urban design to include virtual realities as well as physical ones. His proposals are creative and practical and show the possibilities of increased interconnectivity on both a personal and a global scale. E-topia is a superb introduction to the digital revolution at hand.
Architecture is no longer simply the play of masses in light.
It now embraces the play of digital information in space. It is, I suggest, a moment to reinvent urban design and development and to rethink the role of architecture. The payoffs are high, and so are the risks. You rarely pay explicit attention to all this, but you are peripherally aware of it, and you feel uncomfortably isolated if you are cut off from it. Whereas physical meeting places depend for their success on centrality within densely populated areas, virtual venues need not.