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But there are also important differences. The designers of both urban spaces and of virtual system are creating environments that influence the interactions that occur within them and the culture that grows around them. Both real-world and virtual cities are (or should be) vibrant gathering places of people, centers of commerce and entertainment. There are parallels both between real-world cities and virtual environments as well as between real-world architect and virtual system designers. The spatial world makes such metaphors both powerful and pervasive Metaphor makes the abstract comprehensible: our constant experience of

While the net is ``fundamentally and profoundly anti-spatial'' Using the metaphor transfers the meaning of ``city'' to the abstract Helps shape our conception of what this new world should be like The cultural and symbolic meaning of ``city'' Particular, metaphor is useful (and arguably essential) for thinkingĪbout abstractions. Here I will look at some of the key parallels between real cities and virtual spaces and between city architects and on-line system designers.Ī metaphor is a cognitive tool, a way of structuring thought. The virtual world is abstract and unknown the city is physical and, though very complex, better known. The metaphor of the city is a very useful tool for thinking about the virtual world.

Its infrastructure is in constant flux: these people are communicating through channels that were non-existent five years ago and which are likely to be superseded in the next five. Its features are unprecedented: millions of people worldwide are able to communicate with each other and share information, transcending the accustomed limitations of time and space. There is neither an inherent form nor much history and shared culture on which to base a design. In its newness and abstraction, it presents a nearly blank canvas to the designer. Inhabiting the virtual city: The city and the bodyĢ The city and the body 2.1 The metaphorical cityĭesigning the virtual environment is a challenging problem.