Globalisation, Networking, Urbanisation: Reflections on the Spatial Dynamics of the Information Age

Abstract

The network society is a global society because networks have no boundaries. Spatial transformation is a fundamental dimension of this new social structure. The global process of urbanisation that we are experiencing in the early 21st century is characterised by the formation of a new spatial architecture in our planet, made up of global networks connecting major metropolitan regions and their areas of influence. Since the networking form of territorial arrangements also extends to the intrametropolitan structure, our understanding of contemporary urbanisation should start with the study of these networking dynamics in both the territories that are included in the networks and in the localities excluded from the dominant logic of global spatial integration.