Making the Digital City

Alessandro Aurigi, Alessandro is Professor of Urban Design in the School of Architecture, Design and Environment at the University of Plymouth. He holds a Laurea in Architecture from Florence University, Italy, and a PhD from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He has worked previously at University College London. His main research interest is studying the relationships between the emergence of the 'information society' and the ways we imagine, conceive, represent, and manage buildings and cities.

• Contents: The Context: Public Space and Cyberspace: Introduction; Cyberspace and the city's public sphere; Exploring the digital city. The Early Steps of the Digital City: The web cities phenomenon in Europe; History of a civic network: Iperbole in Bologna; When Bristol went digital. Issues, Dilemmas and the Future: Lessons to be learnt from Bologna and Bristol; Conclusions: what next for the digital city?; Bibliography; Index.

’Alex Aurigi has done a splendid job bringing together developments in information and communication technologies which underpin the emergence of the digital city. In this summary of developments in European cities, he shows how city governments are exploiting these new technologies to deliver better services and promote better planning. This book is a must for anyone who wishes to understand the way the digital revolution is transforming our cities.’ Michael Batty, University College London, UK ’Excavating far beneath the hype of the digital revolution, Aurigi provides an impressive analysis of the reality of digital cities. His fascinating cross-national perspective underlines the ways in which digital innovations are deeply rooted in the cultures, politics and governance of their host city. This will be a must-read for all those interested in how digital technologies, urban spaces, and the politics of cities are influencing each other.’ Stephen Graham, University of Durham, UK ’...an academic book with a reliable methodology and a well-designed survey. Written in a clear style, it is without doubt a useful resource to understand the difficult issues which are at stake in this sort of urban initiative.’ Journal of Housing and the Built Environment