Time–space compression
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Time–space compression (also known as space–time compression and time–space distantiation), first articulated by geographer David Harvey in The Condition of Postmodernity, refers to any phenomenon that alters the qualities of and relationship between space and time.
Time–space compression often occurs as a result of technological innovations that condense or elide spatial and temporal distances, including technologies of communication (telegraph, telephones, fax machines, Internet), travel (rail, cars, trains, jets), and economics (the need to overcome spatial barriers, open up new markets, speed up production cycles, and reduce the turnover time of capital). According to theorists like Paul Virilio, time-space compression is an essential facet of contemporary life: "Today we are entering a space which is speed-space ... This new other time is that of electronic transmission, of high-tech machines, and therefore, man is present in this sort of time, not via his physical presence, but via programming" (qtd. in Decron 71). Virilio also uses the term dromology to describe "speed-space." The present moment, which some would characterize as postmodern, presents one example of an historical period marked by time–space compression.
Theorists generally identify two historical periods in which time–space compression occurred: the period from the mid-19th century to the beginnings of the First World War, and the end of the 20th century. In both of these time periods, according to Jon May and Nigel Thrift, "there occurred a radical restructuring in the nature and experience of both time and space ... both periods saw a significant acceleration in the pace of life concomitant with a dissolution or collapse of traditional spatial co-ordinates" (7).
References
- Decron, Chris. Speed-Space. Virilio Live. Ed. John Armitage. London: Sage, 2001. 69–81.
- Giddens, Anthony (1981). "Time-Space Distanciation and the Generation of Power". A Contemporary Critique of Historical Materialism: Power, Property and the State. London: Macmillan. pp. 90–108. ISBN 978-0-520-04535-4. Retrieved 23 May 2011.
- Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity: An Enquiry into the Origins of Cultural Change. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1990.
- May, Jon and Nigel Thrift. "Introduction." TimeSpace: Geographies of Temporality. NY: Routledge, 2001. pp. 1–46.
