ABSTRACT
The four edited books by John Brotchie and colleagues (Brotchie et al., 1985, 1987, 1991) and the OECD, (1992) provide the best collections exploring the urban impacts of telecommunications. A related area of work centres on the ‘long waves’ of urban and regional development is best explored by Hall and Preston (1988). Good examples of futurist and Utopian treatments can be found in the pages of The Futurist journal. See also Maisonrouge (1984), and Mason and Jennings (1982). The most influential approaches have been by Toffler (1981) and Martin (1981). Not surprisingly, many promotional brochures and videos produced by telecommunications and information technology companies take a similarly optimistic stance. A more considered approach to forecasting Europe’s technological and urban futures is provided by Masser et al. (1992).
