E-topia: Urban Life, Jim - But Not as We Know it [Paperback]

The concise, intelligently written, well-referenced chapters span:

* march of the meganets- digiphiles versus digiphobes, after the digital revolution, information infrastructure & opportunity, new networks and urban transformation, the big pipes, connected to the backbone, new global interdependence, from POP to your door, the network city extended, the end of rural isolation, residual wireless backblocks, public and private, behind the firewalls and filters, and the task ahead.

* telematics takes command- proscenium and display, screenspace, out of the box, center and periphery, up in the lights, virtual reality, and augmented reality.

* software- new genius of the place- embedded intelligence, instant networking, and form fetches function.

* computers for living in- wear ware, body nets, appliance intelligence, electronic teamwork, buildings with nervous systems, intelligent resource consumption, adaptive behaviour, reconceiving construction, the I-bahn, and smart cities.

* homes and neighbourhoods- displacement of space, reconfigured homes, rethinking planning/zoning, sociology of wired dwellings, localisation, renucleation, twenty-four hour electronic neighbourhoods, redistributed secondary relationships, and dual cities.

* getting together- online meeting places, shift in scale, invisible boundaries, virtuality, connectivity and sociability, electronic co-ordination, cyberturf, e-vox populi, civitas and urbs decoupled, and reinventing public space.

* reworking the workplace- exchanging intangible products, delivering information products, remaking making, value from knowledge, relocating production, make after buying, the recombinant workplace, and mobilising enterprises.

* the teleserviced city- typology of service systems, summoning assistance, keeping tabs, surveillance and seclusion, delivery at a distance, web of indirect relationships, telerobotics, the teleservice paradox, electronic fronts & architectural backs, and serving space.

* the economy of presence- the cost of being there, traditional limits, asynchronous alternative, information mobilization, remote interaction, modes and operations, costs and benefits, and power of place.

* lean and green- dematerialisation, demobilisation, mass customisation, intelligent operation, and self transformation.

Initially this reviewer was put-off by the sometimes obscure vocabulary, and relative-complexity of grammar (compared with a recent reading-list of simplistic e-business texts). By the end of the book, the synergy of contributions & style proved a key strength. Other strengths include: the coherence, attractiveness and power of future scenarios presented; and related discussion about the rich-poor gap within neighbourhoods and the World.

Improvements could include: better use of illustrations or tables in place of existing lengthier textual descriptions; deeper material in areas beyond the MIT professor-author's expertise of architecture & computer science (e.g. world class manufacturing, supply chain management, teleworking, appropriate technology, and development economics); and greater evidence of significant research & results beyond MIT.

Overall very highly recommended- 'E-topia' is a must-read for business-technologists seeking a bigger context, as well as "blue-sky futurists" seeking a balanced pragmatic view of possibilities.

Author William Mitchell provides a history lesson about the role of information and technology. He examines the implications of the new digital infrastructure and provides some not-so-futuristic examples of things to come, including wearable technology and new urban infrastructure.

Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Mitchell makes a convincing case that we must extend the definitions of architecture and urban design to include virtual realities as well as physical ones. His proposals are creative and practical and show the possibilities of increased interconnectivity on both a personal and a global scale.

While the entire book is a tour-de-force, the last two chapters of the volume shine. "The Economics of Presence" neatly summarizes synchronistic and asyncronistic communication. "Lean and Green" takes on the topic of green building techniques. E-topia is a superb introduction to the digital revolution at hand.