Afternoon reading: Diego Barajas Dispersion: A Study of Global Mobility and the Dynamics of a Fictional Urbanism, Episode Publishers, Rotterdam, 2003.

This publication is based on a thesis that studies global mobility and territories in dispersion. Based in Rotterdam, Diego Barajas concentrates his research on the urban dispersals shaped by migration, looking first at the Cape Verdean Diaspora and its territorial structure, and then focused on the case of the 'belhuis' - 'call-house'.

By 'territories in dispersion', Barajas refers to social habitats that are no longer physically contained in geographically continuous areas, but have been spread out and re-articulated by artificial means. The de-territorialized condition created by increased mobility - particularly by migration - had led to an urbanism of artificial re-territorializaton. This is a functional urbanism - as based on mental constructions but tangible - that is manifested in the city as fragments, micro environments of global circuits, each of which establishes its own identity, time, rules and aesthetics - its own atmospheres.

The book is great, full of nice visualization, pictures and good insights about migrants behavior towards communication. A really pertinent study about how mobility and tech are intricately connected. Besides, it's from a different point of view than the reccurent geek/business guy travelling with a laptop; here it's about a mobile diaspora that tries to keep in touch with their roots.