So there’s a whole genre of speculative fiction known as Urban Fantasy, that takes the archetypes of traditional pre-urban fantasy and puts them in a modern urban setting. Read as werewolves, vampires, faeries and other magical folk co-existing with humans (to varying degrees of peacefulness) in Manhattan. In some sense, it’s hard to do the same thing with technology driven Science Fiction, since modern urbanity is such a product of technological advances. The mingling of the two is almost tautological.
But I wonder if there’s a class of science fiction that treats modern urban structures (read cities or metropolitan areas) as systems that can be hacked. There’s lots of SF that happens IN cities but is there much SF that happens TO cities? Even the good stuff that I’ve read with a heavy urban element, (Neuromancer, Altered Carbon, Brasyl, etc.) doesn’t quite get to where I’m reaching. The city, however well fleshed out, is always backdrop.
While I haven’t read it, China Mieville’s The City & The City would seem to be an exemplar, although it’s essentially a police procedural. Then again I should read it before holding it up as a prototype.