ABSTRACT
The Dutch "border city" contains urban concentrations with very distinct, and historically very old idiosyncracies: Delft, for instance, or Leiden, let alone Amsterdam, the Hague, and Rotterdam. Despite all the rurbanization in the region, it would be silly to give up calling them "cities", and each one of them has its historically grown, and particular urban culture. If New York is the symbol of modernity and modem urbanity, Los Angeles offers a prime example of the late modem city which in fact is no longer a city. Today's late modem city is indeed in many respects a space of flows (Castell), infinitely more flexible than the cities of a few decades ago. The personal computer, the fax, e-mail, and the virtual reality of cyberspace compel us to rethink space, including urban space. It must be emphasized that a truly contemporary urbanity will deviate strongly from traditional European urbanity in one specific respect: it will not be monocentric but poly centric.
