Cell Phone and the City

Let us begin our study with probably the most popular electronic device of our days: the cell phone.

Cell phones originated in the 1920's.[1] In 1947, car phone technology was introduced and used by the police.[2] The first mass production portable cell phone was marketed to the public in 1983,"[3] but, since it was an expensive gadget,[4] it seemed as another toy for rich people.[5] But, as the cell phone technology was being developed, consumer's demand was increasing. Cell phone companies' competition was also increasing and the device became affordable for the general public and very popular. Today, the cell phone is such an important device to users, that it is consider as the "hand's extension".

Back in the late 80's I remember myself living in a society that mobile phone was a new technological invention that helped people communicate with other people that were not close to a land phone. That means that you could actually call your doctor even if he was not at his surgery or at his house. In fact, our family doctor was the first person I remember saw holding a cell phone and engaged with this new technology. The use of it was only in the case of an emergency. Then more working groups started to feel that mobile technology could help them work better (business men, plumbers, technicians, site engineers, architects etc). Yet, mobile phone was used for work and business. And then, slowly slowly, every worker “needed” that new technology, the students studying abroad got one,[1] so as their parents could contact them,[2] and then even little kids wanted a cell phone.[3] According to statistics, in 2007 in Europe there were more cell phones that people.^{(t. 2)} But how is that related with the city? What is the spatial impact of cell phone?

"Hi,how are you?” has been replaced by “Hi, where are you?” The meaning of place has now a different felling. “Where” can be any place, a home, a work place, a cafe or an open space, a street, a beach or another country. "The constructed geographical place has been replaced by chronological topographies, where immaterial electronic broadcast emissions decompose and eradicate a sense of place."[1] But since we do make the question of "where", that means that sense of real place still exists in our perception. Maybe distance does not matter, as by listening to someone's voice is like felling him next to us. That is why the cell phone gives us a feeling of security when we are moving around the city, a feeling of home. We carry our virtual homes around with us like snails,[2] so as to can anytime, anywhere fell close to our family, close to our friends and call for help in a case of an emergency. Then the city seams friendlier.[3]

“Hi, where are you? I'm shopping in Covent Garden. Would you like to meet for a beer in half an hour?” Holding a cell phone moving around becomes a way to act spontaneously in the city. The usual triangle movement of house - activity in the city - house has been transformed to a more flexible and interesting route of house - activity in the city1 - activity 2 - activity ...x - house.

From the previous graphic example, we may come to the conclusion that cell phone usage will promote decentralization. In this case cell phone, and telecommunications in general, may cause similar spatial changes as the car; suburbanization and urban sprawl. On he other hand, the telephone enabled communication between hundreds of people concentrated in a reduced place and made skyscrapers sociologically possible several decades after engineering made them physically possible.[1] We could imagine that cell phone will have the same impact on today's vertical cities.

The latest cell phone devices provide internet connection and GPS[2] to the users that can get informed of what is going on in the city around them. That gives people the opportunity to live the city, interact and enjoy it. But what does this new way of experience in the city actually affects the way the city looks like? By using a GPS mobile device we can safely experience and enjoy a city without the feeling of getting lost. In the future cities a perspective like this would it meant that traditional navigation systems as street's names or landmark buildings would be unnecessary? Could all buildings be mixed-use, all of the same size, made of the same materials, situated in a repeated plan model^{( dr. 2, 3 )} or in a complete mess?^{( dr. 4, 5 )} Could the city even become a labyrinth of buildings and open spaces and people would still be able to find their destination?

2.1.2. Cell phone and Sustainability

Living in a city where there are more cell phones than people,[1] we could assume that almost
everybody can have access to this kind of technology. Some of the people with two or more cell phones may are business execs who may have a for business use, and a personal phone for personal use. Others may are people who have modest or low incomes and have multiple subscriptions to get the optimal telecoms pricing, with one network offering low cost evening calls, another low cost weekend minutes, etc. Even if some people claim that the technological revolution supports the growing division between people that have access to IT and the knowledge economy and those that do not have,[2],[3] figures in Europe, today,[4] show that this may not be a fact in the future. Cell phones enable instant communication. That means that workers can give and access business information from anywhere. Mobile communication provides efficiency to businesses, since workers can do several works in the same time. From the social aspect, instant communication enables people to coordinate their family and their social activities.[5] If cell phone is being used not as a substitution of face-to-face contacts but as an efficient way of organizing social meetings and developing social interaction, then we could say that the cell phone provides social sustainability.

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