When I began elaborating my doctoral research about how image production transforms form, use and perception of public space – that was about 25 years ago – I played with the idea that the emerging public space in the age of “cinematic mode of production” was characterised by the combination of three main functions: exposure, mobility and mediation, and that these three features of public space were very similar to the technical elements that combine to make the cinematographic device work: the photographic image, the motor and the optical lens. Although this comparison may be a bit of a stretch, I still believe it has its own heuristic value. In the following, some passages from the book where I develop such parallels.