The representation of the city on the web. Influence on the images made by digital users

Abstract

The phenomenon of the digital flow of images available on the web takes nowadays the form of a layer of visual narratives that extend over the real space, almost as a double representation of it. The power of the web to shrink time and space and to penetrate into society enables otherwise a domain of images not comparable to other forms of communication. This implies also the power to convey rhetoric attitudes and to influence the democratic choices that are necessary to take the great decisions about urban transformations. But the world of images on the Net shows actually even wider dynamics that are supported by commercial, social and communicative components and are now displayed in the form of the spectacle of space. Between users and the Net there is so a run–up to visual satisfaction in order to attract attention. On the web a globalized image of the city comes now to life and we can clearly see neoliberal ideologies behind it. Around such icons, communities of web–users often coagulate through discussion forums to debate, comment and propose their own visions of the city. However, the interaction with images can go even further, as far as to trigger community design proposals. These image–based representations are totally managed and shared by the web–users who, getting sometimes in ingenuous ways references from the Internet, show, in any case, the inclusive nature of the digital space and the aggregating potential of the image on the web as well as a probably increasing, even though problematic, impact on the destiny of the city, on shared memory and on future expectations.