Cities 'shaped by software'

By Paul Mason Business and Industry Correspondent, Newsnight

The net may increase segregation and hinder social cohesion

Sutton, Surrey. An affluent town on the outskirts of London. You've probably already got an image of the place in mind before you've seen the pictures.

But now our image of neighbourhoods is being formed not from hearsay but hard fact. Our cities are being sorted by software...

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At the website Upmystreet.com you can type in your postcode and find out everything from crime statistics, school performance and the actual selling price of the house next door.

It's one of a growing number of sites called Neighbourhood Information Systems, and they're changing the way we think about where to live.

Consumer demand

Andrew Salmon, UpMyStreet's Managing Director, says: "I think we have to recognise that the world is being dominated to an extent by the internet; the internet is about research, it's about finding information, it's about search.

"This information has been available for a while - what we're doing is we bring it into one place. And consumers demand it. They want more and more information; to be empowered. We're giving it to them in a way that is accurate and user-friendly so they can take decisions."

There's an implicit encouragement for people to use data strategically... which often involves the coming together of people with similar tastes Report author, Professor Roger Burrows

Mr Salmon talked me through the stats they've got available for one particular postcode in Sutton: the local primary school is below average for English and Maths; there's a high percentage of people with degrees; a low number of people with satellite dishes.

Burglaries are below national average. But car thefts are higher than average. "There must be a few scallies in that area," I volunteer. He laughs and declines to comment but that's the problem. My mental picture of the place is already tarnished.

And this is what is worrying researchers at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, whose

The report cites an increasing tendency for software to shape the way we live

report out today contained the first attempt to survey the impact of these sites. Report author Professor Roger Burrows says there's been a demographic trend over the past 15 years for small areas to become less diverse.

Social cohesion hindered

He says: "This is a demographic trend and what we're suggesting is that this 'informatisation of space' supports that trend. There's an implicit encouragement for people to use data strategically, to make strategic decisions about where to locate and often that involves the coming together of people with similar tastes and preferences."

Government planning guidelines encourage socially mixed communities - but the power of the internet is pushing things in the opposite direction, says Professor Burrows.

He says it's all part of the increasing tendency for software to shape the way we live and act in urban spaces - from CCTV to security passes.

As well as government stats, UpMyStreet uses the same data that marketing companies use. The language marketeers try to fit us - and our neighbourhoods - into reads like the new class structure of Britain: you can be an "affluent grey", show "industrial grit", exhibit "white van culture" or be "welfare borderline".

It's all been done before of course. In 1898, after 17 years of fieldwork, philanthropist Charles Booth published a "Map Descriptive of London Poverty". It colour-coded the capital street by street according to the old class structure: "Lowest Class. Vicious. Semi-criminal"; "Very poor, casual. Chronic want."; "Middle class. Well-to-do."

It should be no surprise that, ten years into the online revolution, the net is starting to shape the way real communities are formed Paul Mason

When Charles Booth drew his map, most people didn't have a choice where they lived. We do, and Neighbourhood Information Sites are beginning to have an impact on that choice. It's a small step from reading an area's profile to drawing up your own checklist of who you want to live near - and who you don't - and in America that's already happening.

Community politics

UpMyStreet's Mr Salmond says the next step for the technology will not lead to greater social engineering but more effective community politics. Discussion boards on UpMyStreet allow people to rate local plumbers or contact each other about aircraft noise - and there are links to local politicians

These sites, though in their infancy, are developing fast. Only this year did the UK Land Registry release actual house selling prices: Since then the traffic on UpMyStreet's house price section has increased tenfold. People are walking into an estate agents armed with the one bit of knowledge they've always wanted; the previous selling price.

The danger, says the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report, is that the "digital divide" between the web-literate and the rest will be reinforced by this, adding to the ability of the affluent to make informed choices.

The internet is superb at two things: enabling informed choice and building online communities of like-minded people. It should be no surprise that, ten years into the web revolution, it is starting to shape the way real communities are formed.

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Paul Mason's report on the internet and social division will be broadcast by Newsnight on BBC Two at 22.30 BST in the UK.

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