Netopias: Premonitions of Past Futures

by Eva Papamargariti & Vassiliki-Maria Plavou
essay published at MAS CONTEXT

The current essay examines the notion of utopias in the digital era. While re-visiting past architectural visions acknowledged as improbable examples, extravagant parts of the latter have been located today as present, common benefits. Such is the case of networks.
The former profile of the explorer is now found in the online researcher, whose landscape is reduced in a complex system of hypertexts and hyperlinks. The presence of an endlessly forming datascape is weaving the ethics of an online, digital culture. Online platforms serve as open-access libraries, offering knowledge in a wider public. Other online platforms have accelerated social interactions resulting even in the coordination of actions for public affair claims. Networking not only altered the common living,but also enhanced cities’ physical space as the background of the metropolitan life. Moreover, Internet has introduced new thresholds for desire indulgences, whether this is consumerism, socializing or “gaming”. At last, leading edge technology constantly provides upgraded devices that re-invent the human body, as long as the relationship between user and urban terrain.