City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn

by William J. Mitchell

Entertaining, concise, and relentlessly probing, City of Bits is a comprehensive introduction to a new type of city, an increasingly important system of virtual spaces interconnected by the information superhighway. William Mitchell makes extensive use of practical examples and illustrations in a technically well-grounded yet accessible examination of architecture and urbanism in the context of the digital telecommunications revolution, the ongoing miniaturization of electronics, the commodification of bits, and the growing domination of software over materialized form.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Technology, Urbanism, Cities, Academic

232 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly boring to read 20 years later because so many of these predictions were just true and are now commonplace. That said, I do love the extended architectural metaphor.

[Robert Hudder · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am re reading some books from my past and going through some of the older technology books. Here was one that was trying to get at the impact of the electronic on space and architecture. The first half of the book seems almost predictive. The thought becomes that Mitchell is at MIT and so has the inside scoop. It really did seem prescient.

Then comes the last two parts which are particularly enamoured with the impact of the internet on commercial spaces and what spaces would look like on the web. This was written in 1996, when Amazon still sold only books and hadn't changed the world. Google was not even on the web. Ten years before reddit and Facebook.

The pronouncements were about privacy and the nature of electronic cash. There are still some things that he got right or are still an underpinning. More hits than misses. It makes me wonder who is still doing impact of technology books and who is getting it right.

This was nostalgia for me. I am glad I read it. It makes me feel a little better about my days spent in a field that would now be called Internet studies. I haven't gotten to the point where I feel as if I should have done something different but it does light the fire. I have a few more of my old books and will be hoping for similar results.

[Zhi Chen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given the rapid technological progress that had occurred since the publication of the book, reading the author's descriptions of now ordinary processes like emailing, teleconferencing, or online shopping is rather boring. However, the comparisons drawn between the physical built environment and cyberspace are beautiful literary merits worth praising. Mitchell's concerns over social equity and access to cyberspace are still relevant challenges to this day despite the updates in technologies. Overall, it was a thoughtful piece and a decent read.

[Casey Browne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Given the rapid technological progress that had occurred since the book's publication, reading the author's descriptions of now ordinary processes like emailing, teleconferencing, or online shopping is rather boring. However, the comparisons drawn between the physical built environment and cyberspace are beautiful literary merits worth praising. Mitchell's concerns over social equity and access to cyberspace are still relevant challenges to this day despite the updates in technologies. Overall, it was a thoughtful piece and a decent read.

[Sourabh Rohilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's my review :
https://medium.com/@sourabhrohilla/ci...

[Lnaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Click, click through cyberspace; this is the new architectural promenade.

[Yokusun Basi]

City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn by William J. Mitchell (1995)

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's my review of these reviews: Extremely disappointing and "boring" to read, because almost every single one of them missed the point of the book entirely. Very depressing.

[Clay Daneker]

Amazing how many of this guys predictions came out pretty much accurate

[John McElhenney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Check the publication date, 1996!

This guy is an architect first and an info architect second. Visionary in scope this book opened my eyes to the potential for social space on the internet.

I was inspired to write my first table of contents for "my internet book" as a result of reading this book.

A friend of mine was nonplussed, he said, "I already knew all this stuff."

I think he missed the depth of exploration into the metaphor of virtual space and the intentional architecture of it.

Might be a bit dated these days.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Regardless of your enthusiasm, or lack thereof, towards all this emergent hyper-digital urbanism stuff, Mitchell's trio of books are well worth the effort. Interesting, provocative, yet also appropriately skeptical.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should have read this book when it came out in 1996. Bill Mitchell was very prophetic and about 80-90% accurate predicting what as come to be with our current state of ubiquitous computing. It all seems a bit dated now but there is some good visionary history here.

[Vicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

kind of good, although i don't think his style of writing is refined, he's after all a professor not a writer :p so i guess it's kind of boring to read the whole pages through.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was required reading (for a grad school seminar) that became recreational at the same time... really fascinating.

[Nathan]

This book is in my "books-to-read" wishlist.

[Yuri Artibise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting concepts, but quite dated now.