ABSTRACT
A fifth and final key element in the relations between telematics and the social life of cities is the exploration of telematics systems as ‘virtual’ networks supporting new types of social interaction ‘within’ electronic space. Many commentators now argue that such virtual communities offer support for specialised social groups to function irrespective of geographical separation. These networks operate to support ‘imagined communities’ (Anderson, 1983), without the spatial and temporal barriers of urban physical space. They only actually ‘exist’ in an abstract sense within the managed flows of digitised data and the digital processing facilities of computers and telematics systems. In addition, the convergence of computing and media technologies with telecommunications is fuelling the growth of the ‘virtual reality’ industry, where electronic spaces actually create artificial environments within which virtual ‘people’ (from any location that is linked into the network) can interact as electronic constructions of them (or other) selves.
