THE INFORMATIONAL CITY: Economic Restructuring and Urban Development - Softcover

"The Informational City is a major achievement, a real tour--de--force. Although many other social scientists have been groping their way towards an understanding of the new economy and society, Castells has leap--frogged them all to produce the definitive analysis that will surely stand for years to come." Peter Hall, Times Higher Education Supplement "Castells provides a careful and closely--argued exposition. This is the book to read to find out ... how the space economy of the United States is being reshaped. Castells describes in compelling detail a burgeoning sphere of communication flows which is transforming organisations, work, and individual lives." Nigel Thrift, New Statesman and Society "The Informational City is one of [Castells] most important works. In it he presents an impressive synthesis drawing on the results of a large number of research studies ... Castells has managed simultaneously to provide the best available summary of the best studies on the new regional industrial structure of the USA, and a set of thought--provoking essays about the deep structure of the information technology revolution and neo--conservative economic policies. The book will be of use to teachers and researchers alike." Ian Miles, University of Sussex "This book is provocative and relatively easy to read. The author presents a convincing case for the dawn of an informational age that promises to complicate capitalist social organization." Growth and Change

The cities and the regions of the world are being transformed under the combined impact of a restructuring of the capitalist system and a technological revolution. This is the thesis of this book, now in paperback. Castells not only brings together an impressive array of evidence to support it but puts forward a new body of theory to explain it. He analyzes the interaction between information technology, economic restructuring and socio--spatial change through the empirical observation of contemporary national, urban and regional processes in the capitalist world, with emphasis on the United States. The author summarizes a very wide range of evidence of urban and regional development, and isolates the causes and consequences of the processes and trends that may be observed.