Change in urban environments in the past centuries

In their introduction to the great "Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Mobilites and the Urban Condition" book, Graham and Marvin describes the 5 most important changes cities and urban infrastructures have experienced in the past century:

  • "the intensity, power and reach of those connections [water, electrical, heat, car infrastructures];
  • the pervasiveness of reliance on urban life based on material and technological networks and the mobilities they support;
  • the scale of technologically mediated urban life;
  • the duplicating, extending variety and density of networked infrastructures;
  • the speed of sophistication of the more powerful and advanced infrastructures."

(Of course the discussion of change here is limited to infrastructures) why do I blog this? because it simply gives the global pictures in which one can think about the present and future situation of cities. Always interesting to keep in mind while working on urban computing and city futures projects.