EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Essays on Urban ICT policies

Essays on Urban ICT policies

Introduction

Simply putting Internet terminals in public places, or offering free Internet services - a very common practice in many cities - is not enough, and should be complemented with educational and social components

Description

This thesis develops analytical models to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of urban ICT policies, and applies these models to describe, analyse and compare ICT policies in a number of European cities. In the first place, it explores how the "digital revolution" has affected (and is still affecting) urban regions in Europe. More in particular, it analyses how the adoption of ICTs has an impact on sustainable urban development. Second, the thesis develops analytical tools to analyse various types of urban ICT policies, among which " digital divide" policies and urban broadband policies. It also discusses the link between ICTs and social exclusion.

Background information

The report is the result of a PhD-thesis.

Methodology

This thesis consists of a number of essays dealing with the links between information and communication technologies (ICTs), urban development and urban ICT policy.

Conclusions

ICT's propensity to speed up the transition to a knowledge economy is most articulated in cities which are centres of highly skilled human resources and have knowledge intensive and creative industries.
ICTs bring a tendency for social polarization, on the urban systems level and within individual cities. ICT disproportionally rewards talent and cities that are concentrations of talent. As a result, ICT entails greater inequalities and disparities within and between cities.
Simply putting Internet terminals in public places, or offering free Internet services - a very common practice in many cities - is not enough, and should be complemented with educational and social components. Currently, most policies are calculated to fight the emerging (or existing) "digital divide" from a social perspective, but this approach is somewhat one-sided. Raising ICT access policies may not only reduce social inequalities but also contribute to urban economic development, the introduction of e-government, and improvements in quality of life and accessibility.
The most successful type of policy in our sample is a generic supply policy (as in Stockholm), in which the city builds an extensive fibre infrastructure. This increases competition at the services level. For this, a strict separation of infrastructure ownership and services and a sufficient mass are a key prerequisite.

Contact info

European Institute for Comparative Urban Research (EURICUR)
Dr W. van Winden, tel. +31 10 4082740

Publication date

05/01/2004

Project finished

/03/

Article info
ISBN: 90 5170 755

Links

EURICUR

Essays on Urban ICT policies (PDF, Eng, 1MB)

Document type

research

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment

Keywords

Digital services