As a new cognitive style for the city concept ,the Linear Citis emphasizes the feature of textualization and digitalization of city. The city concept based on the architecture factor and district is now fading out. Instead, the textualized and digitalized virtual city, the Linear Cities, which is statistically intergrated by the ordering data from different factors, will become the mainstream trend. The build-up of city concept will help mankind personal choice needs, which is not like the common city style described by Rem Koolhas. The personal choice will directly decide the changes of parameters of “textualized and digitalized virtual city”, so that the border of textualization/ digitalization of so-called city can be adjusted. All of the necessary parts for the traditional city concept, such as architecture, population, district, transportation and communication will gradually be evolved into some “parts”, which are to be selected and come into the data bank for dynamic scanning, consequently, precisely speaking, the showing tool of city will be the screen menu and toolbar of computer instead of the traditional district map representing the city substance. The old city model was based on the district and architecture factors with the border divided by city and non-city so that the overall image of city was built-up. The Linear Cities, however, exists as another style, which is integrated by the digital data bank of all of the city factors, such as population, distribution of architecture, transportation condition, politics, culture, greenery and communication. Starting with the choice of all of the necessary individual factors for the personals “using” cities, the “city” concept scope is formed through the digital ordering of the city factors being instantly formed. Its main characteristics are:

(1)Architecture, population density, traffic, culture do not exist as the components of the cities, but as the elements for the choice of individual “users”.

(2)The border division of the cities is not a substance concept, but a textualized/digitalized concept, that is according to geographical concept, it can contain not only the parts of the original city, but also parts besides the original city.

(3)The city exist only at some time section, or it can be taken as a complete active model.

(4)Because the traffic net is gradually replaced by the electronic communication net, the substance architecture identification is gradually fading out, and is replaced by the electronic net image identification .The future architecture will emphasize on the function of stable, practical store, electronic information network etc.. And the famous architecture image identification will transfer into the net image of virtual cities.

(5)The virtual image becomes the main part of the city concept, and the substance city becomes the affiliated part, that is the biggest “store” and “delivery center”.

(6)Each city member of future city member is not only the user (consumer) of the city, but also the designer (producer) of the city.

(7)The city oriented by the virtual space, can reconcile the conflict between individual choice and the general development of the society, because the network belongs to the society and individual as well.

(8)The key point may not be the geographical position or the district border, but A: borrowing the image identification of traditional architecture; B: distinction identification of the culture.

Linear Cities Group:  Ni Weihua, Wang Jiahao