Renaissance is a French animation film directed by Christian Vockman. It is a black and white picture of Paris in 2054 where a dark and corageous cop, Karas, “from the Kasba”, is looking for a bright researcher kidnapped by unknown forces. The researcher has discovered the “secret of the immortality”. The unknown force is a well known biotechnology multinational, Avalon, which wants to possess the power of deciding life and death.

The script is nothing new. It is part of the sci-fi genre between Blade Runner and Matrix. The animation is definetely fantastic. But these are judgements of an amateur. However, there are some frames which describe a digitally-connected Paris where big screens start delivering information when people pass near them, electronic voices and faces welcome you in buildings, computer are practically invisible and laptop and pager as well. Everyone is connected on the network through and ubiquitous device, called E-call, that is more than a mobile device. It is an access point to the network and so to all the information and communication systems available. Karas is walking in the Kasba talking with his colleagues in the office and checking information on an invisible screen. It seems that technology is integrated in the architecture and environment of the city and it is just another “invisible but useful” element of everyday life. In addition, the black and white animation makes me thinking of an architect, which does not only design buildings and spaces, but also digital spaces. Digital spaces are not virtual, but part of a real and functional environment. We are not so far from this “ubiquitous environment”. The description of Singapore and South Korea by Bell and Dourish illustrates urban environments very close to the Paris in Renaissance (See Bibliography – Ubiquitous Computing section). Investigating the interaction between architecture and ubiquitous computing, urban planning and ubiquitous computing, spaces and ubiquitous computing is extremely interesting. And I wonder if we can speak of “rural ubiquitous environment” and in what sense and what for.