Ambient text and the becoming space of writing

Abstract

This article explores the spatial status of written texts in the urban environments of the digital age. I suggest that part of what writing does in and for the urban environment in such context is more productively captured by understanding writing not only as a communication technology but a spatial technology as well. I propose the concept of ambient text to ground my exploration of the spatiality of writing in the observational context of a busy New York City street. I then use Manuel Castells’ distinction between the space of places and the space of flows as a useful heuristic to explore theoretically the contribution of writing to contemporary urban social spatiality in the sociotechnical context of the digital age. I argue that writing takes up new spatial roles and can be thought of as an infrastructure that helps the space of places and the space of flows “hook up.” The general argument is that our relationship to written texts is being reconfigured by spatial dynamics for which texts in turn do important work. The idea that texts directly produce social space (the becoming space of writing) leads to an incremental, additive view of social space, which is briefly discussed.