CONNECTING PLUIRALITIES: A REVIEW OF THE COLLECTIVE MONOGRAPH: LAPINA-KRATASIUK E., ZAPOROZHETS O., VOZIANOV A. (EDS.) SETI GORODA: LIUDI. TEKHNOLOGII. VLASTI [CITY NETWORKS: PEOPLE. TECHNOLOGIES. POWER]. MOSCOW, NOVOE LITERATURNOE OBOZRENIE, 2021. 576 P

Abstract

This is a review of the collective monograph “City Networks: People. Technologies. Power” published in 2021 in the STUDIA URBANICA series by the “Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie” publishing house. The paper examines the diversity of approaches to the current research on the technological and digital component of people’s lives in modern cities. It shows that urban complexity and multiplicity require constant efforts to stay focused on the Сity as the integral object of study. It is for this reason that the editors of the monograph preferred to use the well-established metaphor of network to describe the whole variety of technologically mediated interaction. In addition, the authors note that such common concepts as intelligent city, digital city, smart city, technological city pose extreme problems for academic disciplines due to their widespread use in management and marketing. Each section of the monograph tries to introduce the reader to a certain aspect of social interaction based on emerging or spreading digital, information or communication technologies in the city. At the same time, the general purpose of the book is to overcome the widespread technocentricity in the study of modern cities. This monograph is intended for readers who are trying to gain insight into a problem that is new for them, students who study urban science or sociology of the city, architects and urban designers, as well as activists.