This article by Ms. Christine Boyer is incredibly obscure. Thus, to better comprehend what does she mean by Cybercities, I went online to see some discussions from some scholars in this area. Some of my understandings are discussed here.
Boyer announced, in this article, that information revolution brings a new imagery of future cities. All information is collected and transmitted through electronic communications. Computers take charge as experts on managing and processing all stuff happening in postmodernism cities. She argue that the new virtual world, “cyberspace”, will displace our local experiential world, and users are just part of the matrix like simple emitters.
I do recognizes the persuasiveness of her theories that propose global urban uniformity though telecommunication and the dissolution of the particular sense of place. However, despite the proliferation of globalized or delocalized cultural spread through the internet, people still live in particular places and contribute to local cultures. It’s us to examine the revolutions and ever-changing relation between local and global, material and immaterial. The imaginary scenes from Boyer’s are really just her own ideas and visions, and more discussions are needed to thoroughly explore the concept of Cybercities.
— Gaochen WU 3035603992
I appreciate your attempts to engage with Boyer’s reading more critically. Your point about the dialectical relationships between the local and global and between the material and immaterial is thoughtful. Perhaps Boyer is not arguing that cyberspace will completely take over our cities, but rather using CyberCities and its related concepts to understand changing urban processes. If you read material from other scholars, you can reference them in your response.