Policy-Oriented City Networks in Cyberspace: A Methodological Approach to the Understanding of Social and Political Articulations between Cities Based on the Concept of Policy Web Spheres

Whereas the academic debate on global networks was dominated by a focus on economic and financial flows, partially on strategies of technological or infrastructural integration, less attention was dedicated to local and global articulations emerging around sociopolitical issues like the fight against poverty, the strengthening of human rights and protection of the environment. In this paper, the authors examine the limitations of traditional approaches in capturing the complexity and diversity of the emerging city networks and use the methodology of web sphere analysis to map and analyze new articulations of sociopolitical governance between different cities in the context of environmental policy as exemplified in Curitiba, Brazil. The study is based on the mapping of Internet hyperlink connections and shows how a virtual transnational public space with the potential to support environmental governance processes in cities is emerging.