In this era of economic globalization, multimedia communication and cross-border migration, cities increasingly consist of parallel worlds. Different urban cultures and practices immediately confront each other. Call centers, informal markets, sprawling communities, new diaspora and transitory lifestyles represent trans-national spaces in urban centers whose cultural, economic and social activities are no longer confined to their localities. How do planning and architecture react when their central point of reference loses its clear nature and thus its identity? Using concrete examples, this...