Book excerpt: The Virtual and the Real in Planning and Urban Design: Perspectives, Practices and Applications explores the merging relationship between physical and virtual spaces in planning and urban design. Technological advances such as smart sensors, interactive screens, locative media and evolving computation software have impacted the ways in which people experience, explore, interact with and create these complex spaces. This book draws together a broad range of interdisciplinary researchers in areas such as architecture, urban design, spatial planning, geoinformation science, computer science and psychology to introduce the theories, models, opportunities and uncertainties involved in the interplay between virtual and physical spaces. Using a wide range of international contributors, from the UK, USA, Germany, France, Switzerland, Netherlands and Japan, it provides a framework for assessing how new technology alters our perception of physical space.