[aspenmayer]

I believe you’re referring to Egan’s book Permutation City. It’s pretty decent and holds up well today despite being written in 1994.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permutation_City

[lproven]

It might well be, yes -- it's a long time now, I have read all his published novels except maybe in the last couple of years, and I am not sure which one is which.