The Network Society - University of Massachusetts Amherst

central business district, and a daily commute between the two. In the
network society, though, the home may double as an electronically
connected workplace. There is little evidence that this will turn everyone
into housebound telecommuters—though it does open up new
work opportunities for the disabled, and for the geographically isolated.
For many, though, it means that work times and locations are
much more flexible, and that the home must now accommodate a
home office. And, in some contexts, it allows homes and workplaces to
recombine into new urban villages, with twenty-four-hour populations,
composed of live/work dwellings. In some cities, the development of
electronic live/work villages is becoming an attractive option for the
rehabilitation of historic but underutilized building stock.
Another way to say all this is to say that digital technology can add
value to a space in two ways. It can do so directly, by increasing the
comfort, efficiency, or versatility of the space itself—in other words,
by producing fusion space. And it can do so indirectly, by increasing
the connectivity and accessibility of the space for various purposes—
that is, increasing the value that it has by virtue of its location within
the larger, multiply networked urban system.
Wireless connectivity
Wireless networking overlays an additional set of spatial effects on
the fragmentation and recombination produced by wired networks.
Depending upon the degree of miniaturization of wireless devices,
it can:
1. Simply substitute for wired infrastructure over rough terrain,
and in other circumstances where wired connections are difficult
or expensive.
2. Provide mobile connectivity to vehicles—enabling flexible
and efficient dispatch of taxis, direction of emergency service
vehicles, and so on.
3. Free sedentary information work and entertainment from
fixed locations, and increase the value of places to sit down
and work at a laptop computer.
4. Provide mobile connectivity to pedestrians.
E-topia 331