Conceptualised as the site of gatheredness, the ancient polis etymologically implies a stronghold. But the gathering power of the modern, technologically transformed city must be considered in relation to the following: 1) The ancient city gathered its citizens to the centre while excluding difference and reifying the barbarous Other. 2) Technology has always been present as what produces social space and the city. 3) Modern technology – expanding the city, producing its virtual spaces − allows a difference to exist that returns to the stronghold and challenges it. Thus, the citizen can become momentarily apolis, creatively moving the borders of the city’s tolerance. However, technology’s ceaseless contribution to the production of the city must not blind us to the differentiations it brings to our spatial practices. The globalised modern city, in response to diversity, needs rebuilding, and rewriting. The Athenian citizen discovers the polis effortlessly, but the modern technologically savant citizen must read its guides, maps, and signs - in the physical space of the city and the virtual space they have continually at their disposal. In these respects, the modern city becomes constantly more readable and thus safer, but do we forget what it is to live the city?