Introduction: the Internet, changing mobilities and urban dynamics

Abstract

It is by now well established that the Internet and other relatively recent information and communication technologies (ICTs) are fundamentally altering the spatial and temporal organization of the activities of households, firms, and other actors in cities. Views on the nature of ICT-induced changes have, however, become more qualified. At least among geographers, technologically deterministic, utopian, or dystopian visions on how urban structure and mobility may be affected by ICT have become outdated. Instead, the reciprocity of the links between telecommunications, offline activity, and urban spaces as well as their temporal and spatial complexity are being emphasized (e.g., Graham and Marvin, 1996; Aoyama and Sheppard, 2003).