10 - The future of spaces – physical or virtual?

Abstract

The concluding chapter of this book revisits such an important issue as immersiveness and how it influences the way we communicate and interact with and within virtual worlds. It looks into how physical spaces translate into digital and virtual spaces, impacting on our emotions, learning and creativity. Here, the authors define what space actually means in the context of their work, emphasizing the importance of its design, accessibility, sustainability, and the intentions of its producers. They discuss the collision of virtual and physical worlds, which creates a new synthesis but also raises the question of who is responsible for managing digital footprints. The chapter concludes with the coining of a new term – ‘phyrtual’ – which describes a new type of reality we are facing, where our physical bodies are constantly extended throughout the virtual.