- Networks, new technologies and situations    139 kb by    HANIOTOU, Helene | hh@lorraine.u-strasbg.fr    Short Outline This contribution addresses the possibility of a possible spatial restructuring (creation of 'interstitial networks')if an important reduction occurs in the number of working hours brought about by the general use of networks and new technologies. Abstract This contribution raises the question of a possible restructuring of urban and interurban spaces in the western industrialized countries if an important reduction occurs in the number of working hours brought about by the general use of networks and new technologies. It has been the subject of a doctoral thesis (Louis-Pasteur University of Strasbourg, Faculty of Geography) presented in 1996 and the main question of a research project (Laboratory “Image et Ville”) involving the urban physical structure and mobility. A heuristic approach on the becoming of societies and their spaces organized to receive leisure- and free-time activities occupying most of the time of the future urban inhabitants. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the number of working hours in the western industrialized countries has been considerably reduced, accompanied by an increase in leisure- and free-time in general. New technologies and networks are responsible for this substantial time-saving, which could be the cause of increased leisure in the future and the development of interstitial leisure networks. The combined specific local features of natural and cultural sites would then cause the development of an interstitial urban restructuring, and could become the driving force behind a highly technical and hierarchized society during the short working hours but “anarchic” during the long leisure hours. This situation belongs to the realm of science fiction and can only be conceived in a distant future, brought about by some “appropriate bifurcations”. A future where the whole planet will have resolved its spatial, economic and cultural inequalities, where all inhabitants, independently of their origin and status, could enjoy the same “privileges” during their long leisure time. Keywords free time, networks, interstitial space Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2003: Planning in a more globalized World   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper