ABSTRACT
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) may yet change dramatically the practices of spatial planners and related disciplines. For the moment, however, that reconstructive challenge is incomplete and immature. We are sensibly uncertain about the current and prospective impacts of the new technologies and of the conception of networks in which they are embedded. We are, however, sure that there are no simple, direct links between ICT and the spatial patterns of cities and regions. Do the new technologies encourage deconcentration of activities or intense clustering? Do they enhance social mobility or segregation? Absent a compelling narrative of those links it is difficult to persuade practitioners to alter their ordinary commitments to urban design “as they know it.”
