ABSTRACT
This chapter is about an important aspect of the network society, the relationship between the spaces of places and spaces of flows. It explores two sets of relationships—that between the local and the global, and that between certain dimensions of identity and functionality as they impinge on spatial forms—and will try to show how they interact in the spatial transformation of the information society. The chapter focuses on the spatial transformation. In really big cities—not little European conurbations—in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Macau, Zhuhai and the other cities of the Pearl River delta, all the way to Canton, about 65 million people work and live in a highly interrelated functional area. In most planning projects everywhere in the world, the revitalisation of urban life and of the city as a communicative space has become paramount. Ultimately, the meaning of cities depends on the governance of cities.
