This issue’s dossier addresses a theme that is almost the very essence of archetypal differences: the city- countryside dichotomy. Almost like a warning to the incautious, however, it must be said at the very outset that this dichotomy, while retaining its expressive and symbolic value crystallised by our binary representations, is no longer as relevant or operative as it once was. This polarisation still exists in our imagination and even corresponds to an ideal, but in many respects it no longer coincides with its true original meaning: the countryside increasingly resembles the city or, at least, is increasingly home to more urban working habits and lifestyles. As Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas wrote over a decade ago, in an essay entitled Countryside, even ‘husbandry of the land is now a digital practice’.