Cities of Tomorrow: A Synthesis of Virtual and Physical Communities

The pervasive presence of technology impacts methods of expression, identity, forms of social relationships, and ways of learning. Designing educational experiences requires an understanding of the new dynamics being brought on by ubiquitous computing and learning made possible through emergent digital technologies. This essay employs a vision of the contemporary city as a framework in understanding the technical and social aspects of art education in an age of digital visual information. The essay specifically draws on Lynch’s (1960) theory of visual perception of the city, which studies the material image of the city held by its inhabitants. This essay also takes Jacobs’s (1961) considerations beyond forms and tools to the living extensions of individuals and communities. The essay illuminates the argument that technology-mediated communication has transformed our notion of the relation between place and community, and moves beyond discussions of "technology as a tool" to focus on the relational combination of technology, communities, institutions, and societies. In this view, co-location is enacted and represented differently in actual and virtual spaces (Schroeder, 2006), each of which uniquely shape educational interactions.