Digital Cities
The Internet and the Geography of Opportunity
Karen Mossberger, Caroline J. Tolbert and William Franko
Series : Oxford Studies in Digital Politics
In an age when the United Nations has declared access to the Internet a human right, and universal access to high-speed broadband is a national goal, urban areas have been largely ignored by federal policy. The cost of that neglect may well be the failure to realize the social benefits of
broadband and a broadly-connected digital society.
Technology offers unparalleled advantages for innovation in urban areas - in the economy, health care, education, energy, transportation, government services, civic engagement, and more. With their density and networks of activity,
cities hold the most potential for reaping the benefits of technology. But there are surprisingly substantial disparities in broadband adoption across cities. More puzzlingly, rather than promoting innovation or addressing the high cost of broadband access, the US has mostly funded expensive rural
infrastructure in sparsely-populated areas.
Digital Cities tells the story of information technology use and inequality in American metropolitan areas and discusses directions for change. The authors argue that mobile-only Internet, the form used by many minorities and urban poor, is a
second-class form of access, as they offer evidence that users with such limited access have dramatically lower levels of online activity and skill. Digital citizenship and full participation in economic, social and political life requires home access. Using multilevel statistical models, the
authors present new data ranking broadband access and use in the nation's 50 largest cities and metropolitan areas, showing considerable variation across places. Unique, neighborhood data from Chicago examines the impact of poverty and segregation on access in a large and diverse city, and it
parallels analysis of national patterns in urban, suburban and rural areas. Digital Cities demonstrate the significance of place for shaping our digital future and the need for policies that recognize the critical role of cities in addressing both social inequality and opportunity.
Readership : Suitable for scholars and students interested in technology policy, political science, sociology, urban affairs/urban studies/urban planning, communications, public administration (especially for local government courses), public policy, geography, library and information science, race and
ethnicity, African-American studies, Latino studies, science, technology and society studies.
1. Cities and a Digital Society
2. The Need for Urban Broadband Policy
3. Place and Inequality: Urban, Suburban, and Rural America
4. Mobile Access and The Less-Connected
5. Ranking Digital Cities and Suburbs
6. Mapping Opportunity in Chicago Neighborhoods
7. The Geography
of Barriers to Broadband Adoption
8. Barriers to Adoption in Chicago Neighborhoods
9. From Neighborhoods to Washington: Policy Solutions
References
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Index
There are no Instructor/Student Resources available at this time.
Karen Mossberger is Professor of Public Administration at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Caroline Tolbert is Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa. William Franko is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Auburn University.
Special Features
- Urban digital needs and insufficiencies have so far been largely neglected by federal policy and academic research, despite the millions who remain offline in cities.
- Uses new, original data on broadband access in Chicago neighborhoods to provide a unique view of technology use and
barriers in low-income communities.
- Understanding cities' geographies of technology inequality is important for policymakers and community organizations - for guidance on how to target programs, and for the design of programs that respond to differences in patterns of technology use.
