The Infinite City: Politics of Speed

The author employs a philosophical approach in order to conceptualize the space and time in urban realms of the first decades of the 21st century. The so-called 'hi-tech society' has reached its saturation according to Paul Virilio, William Mitchell, Jean Baudrillard, Wolfgang Schirmacher, Marc Augé. Space and time are interchangeably main concerns and the new definitions of technological culture are critiqued. Jean-Luc Nancy has described how physical communities arrive at an inoperable stage. How those communities will function when altered for micro-urban concerns in virtual space is vital to city officials as well as related business enterprises. However, as issues of governance cast a shadow on communitary freedom, netizens seek more flexible derivations instead of smart(er) urban typologies. This urge for flexibility introduces the new notion of a politics of speed, for which a consensus from all states of power should be eternally pursued in the city of the near future. What kind of a city are we looking at in the 21st century? Or rather, what is, today, a real city? The answer should transcend the dialectics of the real and fantasy. Asli Telli Aydemir received a PhD (magna cum laude) in Media and Communication Studies from the European Graduate School. She was awarded a Young Scholar Grant by the European Science Foundation and recently appointed as a Research Fellow in Istanbul Bilgi University, where she works on an EU-funded project, entitled "Civic-web: Internet, Youth and Participation."