Conceptualizing the City of the Information Age

Abstract

Cities are among humanity’s most important and most complex creations, and they have been steadily increasing in complexity since the advent of the digital age. Informatics, the science of information, has by now advanced to a point where high expectations of improved understanding and evidence-based actionable knowledge for urban researchers, managers, and planners appear justified. But while there is more information than ever before, many kinds of theories, models, approaches, and tools that we have relied on thus far may no longer be of much use in the city of the information age. This chapter provides an overview of the state of affairs in urban science and planning, pointing out the limitations of formerly reliable methods and tools in the face of dramatic developments in the life and function of cities in the developed world. The chapter closes with suggestions for data-oriented strategies that might replace the ways we have used urban data up until recently.