ABSTRACT
Across the developed world, cities and the spaces between them are now criss-crossed by increasingly elaborate telecommunications grids, that include telephone networks, wireless and radio systems, cable networks, satellite systems, and Internet data and video networks. This chapter demonstrates that embedding telecommunications into the political, economic and social relations of capitalism provides a far more sophisticated understanding of the interplay between information technologies and the city. It argues that electronic data collection and transmission capabilities are now a crucial factor underpinning contemporary patterns of uneven urban, regional and international development by focusing on the increasing reliance of financial and business services on telecommunications to relay information through international networks.
