As you move from the main galleries into the low ceilinged exhibition space of Sense in the City, immediately you are struck by the departure from the world of three dimensional buses, tubes and trains into the world of the screen. Still and moving images, rather than objects, dominate the three rooms of the exhibition, projected from light-boxes, high definition displays and touch screens. Although the exhibition relies on the device of the screen, there is an ambivalence towards the digital world throughout. Le Corbusier’s utopian social housing schemes are shown on the same wall as a film still from Luc Besson’s dystopic The Fifth Element (a concept pulled off far more convincingly and on a grander scale in the V&A’s Postmodernism show) – so is this meant to be our bright new future or a world of ever increasing social alienation and urban overcrowding?

The purpose of the exhibition also seems confused. The second room showcases innovative ideas from graduates of the RCA, each aiming to improve our access to, and understanding of, the urban landscape. From a map made of light bulbs reminding you of your energy use, to an interactive walking map of your local borough, each project is interesting and laudable. Alongside these interactive displays is a video of Boris Johnson, telling us how our oyster card usage is monitored in order to build up a picture of use patterns for the TFL network. This seemingly benign surveillance becomes part of a distinctly Orwellian future when seen alongside plans for chameleon-like buses, instantaneously changing their advertisements in order to appeal to each borough they pass through. I left the exhibition yearning for a day return to Betjeman’s Metro-land rather than a pay-as-you-go ticket to Johnson’s 2012.

Until Mar 18

KATIE FAULKNER