不同的社会经济形态,其信息基础不同。在自然经济社会,土地、技术、劳动力、资本、自然资源是基本的生产要素,而在城市商品经济社会,信息开始成为新的越来越重要的生产要素,“城市发展是一个动态过程,其驱动力在于运用信息的能力。”①西方城市社会之所以发达到今天的程度,一个重要原因在于他们积累和发展出了一套有利于信息社会化的机制,其中包括了字母文字、印刷术和报纸的发展。因此,西方城市发展史研究,不能无视或忽略字母文字、印刷术和报纸及其所代表的城 Different socio-economic patterns have different information bases. In the natural economy and society, land, technology, labor, capital and natural resources are the basic factors of production. In urban commodity economy, information has become a new and more important factor of production. “Urban development is a dynamic process, The driving force lies in the ability to use information. ”1 The reason why Western urban societies have developed to the present level is that they have accumulated and developed a set of mechanisms conducive to the socialization of information, including the use of letters, printing Surgery and newspaper development. Therefore, the study of the history of western cities can not ignore or ignore the letters, typography and newspapers and the cities it represents