Do you remember classic newspapers? Those large pieces of printed paper of the pre-internet-era (the pre-iPad-era in particular) that you got delivered manually in the morning or that you bought at the kiosk round the corner on your way to work. A medium that specifically shaped our cities as cafes or - in more distinguished areas - some noble clubs had to be established where those papers could be read and talked over again – in more or less distinguished ways. On the other hand major parts of what one could read in those papers were the latest gossip that some when exceeded the village square. Thus not only due to the mere size of cities but also due to the possibili-ties of inclusion and exclusion only a city allows for and that must be overcome by a news medium like the newspaper. Finally, event notes became necessary to advice a potential audience on where to go to and what to see only to tell of its suc-ceeding or falling flat in the next issue. A virtuous circle appears: the city is a mediating as well as a mediated space.

Nevertheless, urban space is a largely neglected topic in contemporary political philosophy and ethics. The absence of explicit works on the city in the field of information ethics is even more sur-prising given the general interest in the concept of space in contemporary philosophy: cyberspace, global village and communities are the terms used – nothing derived from the living space where the majority of humankind lives. Is that by accident or by purpose? Is there may be a categorical differ-ence between the urban and the cyber space?

To find profound answers to these valid questions we dedicated this issue on the reflection of the mutual shaping of the city and ICTs, especially on its ethical and political dimensions.

We do thank the editors of this issue, Michael Nagenborg, Anders Albrechtslund, Martin Klamt and David Murakami Wood for exploring this interesting subject, introducing it into the scholarly discourse with their profound call for paper and producing together with the authors a brilliant new issue of IRIE. For some reason we had to confine ourselves this time with only four articles dealing with the subject asked for – fully in accordance with our striving for quality, not quantity.

All the more we are happy that Charles Ess handed in his position paper that he prepared for the special panel discussion “Changes of the Internet - Changing Information Ethics?” on occa-sion of the 10th anniversary of the foundation of the International Center for Information Ethics @ CEPE 09 (June 27, 2009) with the title “Brave New Worlds? The Once and Future Information Ethics”.

We hope to contribute with this issue once again to your personal thinking of the future of the infor-mation society and look forward to any corollary it may have.

Yours sincerely,

the editors.