Urban futures in the era of the e-economy

The wide use of information and communication technology leads to structural changes in our economy and society. The impacts of ICTs embrace not only a faster and denser communication but also a reorganisation of values chains, firms, labour relations and management structures. In this paper various actual and potential impacts on the function of cities are identified and discussed. This is based on a scan of the literature and empirical research of one particular value chain, i.e. that of financial services. Attention is given to customer driven production, customer services, desintermediation and re-intermediation, new e-firms and e-webs of firms, and flexibility of work places. A special focus is on different forms of knowledge and concomitant constraints in electronic communication. The paper concludes with a number of questions and some brief policy recommendations.