The Mediated Metropolis as Medium and Message

Abstract

Cities and communication have been historically inseparable, and the new communication technologies and globalization are changing the boundaries of multicentered, multicultural and multimediated urban regions. The `communicative city' is a medium with a traditional local and internal geographic space and place, while conveying its message into a virtual external cyberspace. The impact of social divergence and media convergence on urban identity raises questions about consensus, community and the `communicative' function of the city if it is digitized, dematerialized and deterritorialized in a new urban geography.