From the city to a cyber urban lifestyle : reinforced solitude or the return to village communities ?

Urban mobility is being enhanced, although being made more complex, by the proliferation of means of transport (bicycles, rollerblades or scooters), as well as new instruments (mobile telephones and the mobile web) including those which provide information on one's geographical position (SatNav). While some city dwellers benefit from this to plan a new urban life full of energy, others find themselves overwhelmed by the necessary skills, and retreat into familiar surroundings and their immediate neighbourhoods. New participants with original, economic models such as JCDecaux and Google, as well as those actively involved in the web 2.0, are starting to make their presence felt in a world which has been traditionally structured around bodies such as the RATP and municipalities. These companies, which are drawing up a blueprint for towns of the future, are simultaneously ebullient and paradoxical, and are struggling to find a suitable means of governance.