The Network Society
Space of Flows and Space of Places
I will present…
Biography of Manuel Castells
The Network Society: Basic Theory
Spatial Dimensions
Concept of Space of Flows
Final Remarks and Recommendations
Manuel Castells Born in Spain 1942 Grew up in Valencia and Barcelona Studied economics at UB 1958-1962 Student activist against Franco‘s dictatorship Fled to Paris, continued to do his PhD there Interest in technologies, cities and Marxist theories 1972: The Urban Question – A Marxist Approach Moves to USA in 1979
Manuel Castells 1989: The Informational City
1996: The Rise of the Network Society 1997: The Power of Identity 1998: The End of Millenium Teaching positions: Berkeley, Oxford, MIT etc. Member of various advisory boards and councils Receiver of various honorary doctorates and prices
Theory of the Network Society “ ... a network society is a society where the key social structures and activities are organized around electronically processed information networks.”
Modifications in: Production, Economy, Experience, Power, Society and Culture
New Organization of Economies ď‚ž
Main economic drivers: Advanced services: finance, real estate, insurance, consulting, legal services, advertising, design etc.
â–ş knowledge generation and information flows ď‚ž
Telecommunication services: scattered locations around the globe
The „Information Technology Paradigm“ of the Network Society
1. Transformation of location patterns of core economic activities Complexity and Unpredictability increase Demand for a more flexible labour force
2. Transformation of social structures
3. Transformation of living spaces and cities
New networking logic
Pervasive Logic
But: No vision of technological determinism
“It's about social networks which process and manage information and are using micro-
electronic based technologies.”
The role of the City in the Network Society Saskia Sassen: Four major functions of cities 1.
Command points in organization of world economy
2.
Key locations for finance and advanced services
3.
Sites of production and innovation
4.
Markets for products produced
Castells: Cities will continue to grow in importance because…
Attract and Concentrate high skilled labour Lifestyle of the managerial elites:
Shopping, culture, entertainment, real estate and good education for their children
Companies rely on prestige: valuable real estate
Face- to-Face contact remains crucial
And our cities change… „ I shall argue that, because of the nature of the new society, based upon knowledge, organized around networks, and partly made up of flows, the informational city is not a form but a process, a process characterized by the structural
domination of the space of flows“
(Castells, 1996, p.429).
What is this Space of Flows?
Space of Flows = „..is the material organization of time-sharing social practices (space) that work through flows.“
Flows = sequences of exchange and interaction between physically disjointed social actors
Three layers of Space of Flows 1. Technological infrastructure of circuits of electronic impulses (micro-electronics, telecommunication, hardware in general) ď‚ž
Facilitates the flows...
2. Geographical topology of the space of flows formed by its nodes and hubs. ď‚— Hubs: exchange and communication points ď‚— Nodes: strategically important centres around
the key functions of the network (centres of power)
3. New Social and Spatial Organization : Managerial Elites
People
Space of Flows
Space of Places
Cosmopolitan
Local
Mobile
Place based
Homogenization of lifestyles
Idenitification
Identification with managerial elite
Local identity Community Culture
Space of Flows Meanings,
Space of Places People live in Places: Human experience is place based
Functions and Dynamics of Places
The Net
Self
change Ahistorical and Acultural architecture
Experience a blurred relationship between architecture and society
Architectural uniformity
Repression of historical specificity of local places
Traditional Architecture vanishes (primitive and naked)
Changes in the city landscape…
Cities main functions concentrated in their business oriented centres
Whole parts of the cities and their population become irrelevant and often dysfunctional
What we get is… „The dominant tendency toward a horizon of networked, ahistorical space of flows, aiming at imposing ist logic over scattered, segmented places, increasingly unrelated to each other, less and less able to share cultural codes“
(Castells, 1996, p.459)
What we need is…
Reconciliation: Culture and Technology Tradition and Innovation
Cultural, political and physical bridges between networked space and local places
Reunification through Design and Architecture
Recommendations:
Conversations with History: Manuel Castells http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GBB7U5mv0w
Manuel Castells at Occupy London: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS82Do3bU-w
Thank you for your attention! Any Questions?
Bibliography (1996) Manuel Castells, The Rise of the Network Society, 2nd Edition. Mainly Chapter 6 The Space of Flows (pp.407-459)
Biography:http://annenberg.usc.edu/Faculty/Communication%20and%20Journalism/ CastellsM.aspx Blogg: http://cbratsos.wordpress.com/ Felix Stalder on Space of Flows: http://felix.openflows.com/html/objects_flows.pdf http://felix.openflows.com/html/space_of_flows.html Felix Stalder, The Logic of Networks:
http://www.ctheory.net/printer.aspx?id=263 Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_society#Manuel_Castells Review: http://www.johncartermcknight.com/blog/?p=506