La ciudad contemporánea, una polis sin política?

According to the ancient philosophers, the city is a space the function of which consists in universalizing and politicizing the individuals. On the contrary, contemporary cities seem to fail to reach these aims, as they are undermined by social and economic gaps and split into highly diffe-rentiated and separated neighborhoods. They lack the social intertwining and the experience of otherness which are required for the elaboration of a truly common world. Can then the so-called new forms of public spaces, like the malls, fill this function today, and what are their social, economic and political consequences on the urban structure?