The spread of capsular civilisation is a worst-case scenario taking shape before our eyes. As technology accelerates, daily life becomes increasingly suburbanised, and society grows more polarised, we retreat into capsules: vehicles, architectural cocoons and urban enclaves such as shopping centres, gated communities and theme parks. Since 9/11, the Iraq War and the War on Terror, architecture has become inseparable from its political and social context. Combined with capitalism, demographic change, and growing political, social and ecological crises, this reflects a society increasingly shaped by fear, exclusion and simulation. De Cauter examines its implications for contemporary cities.