Changes in the composition, distribution and availability of information and communication technology (ICT) have taken place in the past two decades. Digital technology is now a ubiquitous business requirement, whilst the availability of mobile/cellular telephones has ensured on-going connectivity. Little has been published on the distribution of ICT and other networked infrastructure in developing countries. This paper seeks to address that by examining Durban, South Africa. The spatial distribution of new technology access is examined in relation to urban change and the city’s ICT policy. It becomes evident that current spatial patterns mirror overall investment patterns. Whilst the city’s policy claims to address distribution and access, its innovations are focused on the business sector, rather than last-mile access, essentially reflecting spatial inequalities.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamL. (2004) ICTs and regional cooperation in Africa: implication for CSOs. Paper prepared for the Social Science Research Council, New York.
2.
van AudenhoveL. (Ed.) (2003) Towards an integrated information society policy in South Africa: an overview of political rhetoric and policy initiatives 1994–2000. Occasional Paper No. 1, Surveys, Analyses, Modelling and Mapping Research Programme, Human Sciences Research Council, Cape Town.
3.
AurigiA. (2005) Competing urban visions and the shaping of the digital city, Knowledge, Technology and Society, 18(1), pp. 12–26.
4.
BalboM. (1993) Urban planning and the fragmented city of developing countries, Third World Planning Review, 15(1), pp. 24–35.
5.
BovairdT.LöfflerE. (2002) Moving from excellence models of local service delivery to benchmarking ‘good local governance’, International Review of Administrative Sciences, 68, pp. 9–24.
6.
Bridges.org (2002) Taking stock and looking ahead: digital divide assessment of the city of Cape Town. City of Cape Town.
7.
CastellsM. (1994) European cities, the informational society and the global economy, New Left Review, 204, pp. 18–32.
8.
CastellsM. (2000a) Grassrooting the space of flows, in: WheelerJ. O.AoyamaY.WarfB. (Eds) Cities in the Telecommunications Age: The Fracturing of Geographies, pp. 18–27. New York: Routledge.
9.
CastellsM. (2000b) The Rise of the Network Society: The Information Age: Economy, Society and Culture, Vol. I. Oxford: Blackwell.
10.
CoutardO. (2008) Placing splintering urbanism: introduction, Geoforum, 39, pp. 1815–1820.
11.
DardagonC. (2007) Durban wired for multimedia in 2010, The Mercury, 14February, p. 4.
12.
DonnerJ. (2007) Research approaches to mobile use in the developing world: a review of the literature, The Information Society, 24(3), pp. 140–159.
eThekwini Municipality (2001) Long term development framework: an overview of the key developmental challenges, unicity vision, outcomes and city strategy. eThekwini Municipality, Durban.
15.
eThekwini Municipality (2002) Integrated development plan 2002–2006. eThekwini Municipality, Durban.
16.
eThekwini Municipality (2008) eThekwini Municipality Integrated Development Plan 2006/07 to 2010/11: 2008/2009 Review. eThekwini Municipality, Durban.
17.
FreundB. (2007) The African City: A History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18.
FreundB.PadayacheeV. (2002) (D)urban Vortex: South African City in Transition. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press.
19.
FrissenP. (1997) The virtual state: postmodernisation, informatisation and public administration, in: LoaderB. D. (Ed.) The Governance of Cyberspace, pp. 110–125. London: Routledge.
20.
FuchsC.HorakE. (2008) Africa and the digital divide, Telematics and Informatics, 25, pp. 99–116.
21.
GedyeL. (2005a) Come on down, the oysters and wireless Internet are fine, Mail and Guardian, 18November, p. 1.
22.
GedyeL. (2005b) Knysna’s ‘up-yours’ to Telkom: municipalities large and small race to provide Internet access, Mail and Guardian, 24November, p. 1.
23.
GedyeL. (2006) Wireless in eThekwini, Mail and Guardian, 20December, p. 2.
24.
GrahamS. (2001) The city as sociotechnical process: networked mobilities and urban social inequalities, City, 5(3), pp. 339–349.
25.
GrahamS. (2002) Bridging urban digital divides? Urban polarisation and information and communication technologies (ICTs), Urban Studies, 39(1), pp. 33–56.
26.
GrahamS.MarvinS. (2001) Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Mobilities and the Urban Condition. London: Routledge.
27.
HarrisonP. (2006) On the edge of reason: planning and urban futures in Africa, Urban Studies, 43(2), pp. 319–335.
28.
HarrisonP.HuchzermeyerM.MayekisoM. (Eds) (2003) Confronting Fragmentation: Housing and Urban Development in a Democratising Society. Cape Town: University of Cape Town Press.
29.
InggsM. (2005) Microsoft signs lease to set up office in African technology hub, Star, 15September, p. 6.
30.
JacobsonC. D. (2002) Book review: ‘Splintering Urbanism: Networked Infrastructures, Technological Mobilities and the Urban Condition’, Journal of Urban Technology, 9(3), pp. 109–111.
31.
KooyM.BakkerK. (2008) Splintered networks: the colonial and contemporary waters of Jakarta, Geoforum, 39, pp. 1843–1858.
32.
LiffS. (2005) Local communities: relationships between ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ social capital, in: van den BesselaarP.de MichelisG.PreeceJ.SimoneC. (Eds) Proceedings of the Second Communities and Technologies Conference, Milano, pp. 41–54. Dordrecht: Springer.
33.
MbembeA.NuttallS. (2004) Writing the world from an African metropolis, Public Culture, 16(3), pp. 347–372.
34.
MinkleyG. (1998) Corpses behind screens’: native space in the city, in: JudinH.VladislavicI. (Eds) Blank: Architecture, Apartheid and After. Rotterdam: Netherlands Architecture Institute Publishers.
35.
MisuracaG. C. (2007) e-Governance in Africa: From Theory to Action: A Handbook on ICTs for Local Governance. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
36.
MorrisM.BarnesJ.DunneN. (2002) From import substituting industrialisation to globalised international competitiveness, in: FreundB.PadayacheeV. (Eds) (D)Urban Vortex: South African City in Transition, pp. 107–134Durban: University of Natal Press.
37.
MurrayM. J. (Ed.) (2004) The Evolving Spatial Form of Cities in a Globalising World Economy. Cape Town: HSRC Publishers.
38.
MwesigeP. G. (2004) Cyber elites: a survey of Internet cafe users in Uganda, Telematics and Informatics, 21, pp. 83–101.
39.
NaidooS. (2005) Durban secures ISV centre, The Mercury, 6July, p. 5.
40.
OdendaalN. (2003) Information and communication technology and local governance: understanding the difference between cities in developed and emerging economies, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, 27, pp. 585–607.
41.
OdendaalN. (2006) Towards the digital city in South Africa: issues and constraints, Journal of Urban Technology, 13(3), pp. 29–48.
42.
OdendaalN. (2008) (D)urban space as the site of collective actions: towards a conceptual framework for understanding the digital city in Africa, in: AurigiA.de CindioF. (Eds) Augmented Urban Spaces: Articulating the Physical and Electronic City, pp. 255–272. Aldershot: Ashgate.
43.
RobinsonJ. (2006) Ordinary Cities: Between Modernity and Development. London: Routledge.
44.
SassenS. (1994) Cities in a World Economy. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge/Sage.
45.
SassenS. (2002) Introduction: locating cities on global circuits, in: SassenS. (Ed.) Global Networks, Linked Cities, pp. 1–37. London: Routledge.
ShatkinG. (2007) Global cities of the south: emerging perspectives on growth and inequality, Cities, 24(1), pp. 1–15.
48.
SpencerA. (1999) 031 online, Durban Metro Beat, November, p. 3.
49.
SudjicD. (2008) Johannesburg: the view from outside, in: BurdettR.SudjicD. (Eds) The Endless City, pp. 200–202. London: Phaidon.
50.
Sunday Tribune (2006) ICT hub in Durban gives KZN the edge, 5March, p. 2.
51.
TaaffeE. J.MorrillR. L.GouldP. R. (1963) Transport expansion in underdeveloped countries: a comparative analysis, Geographical Review, 53(4), pp. 503–529.
52.
TlabelaK.RoodtJ.PatersonA.Weir-SmithG. (2007) Mapping ICT Access in South Africa. Cape Town: HSRC Press.
53.
TodesA. (1998) Reintegrating the apartheid city? Urban policy and urban restructuring in Durban. Paper presented at the Millennium Conference, London, December.
54.
TomlinsonR.BeauregardR. A.BremnerL.MangcuX. (Eds) (2003) Emerging Johannesburg: Perspectives on the Postapartheid City. New York: Routledge.
55.
UN Habitat and ECA (Economic Commission for Africa) (2008) The State of African Cities 2008: A Framework for Addressing Urban Challenges in Africa. Nairobi: UN Habitat.
56.
UrryJ. (2002) Mobility and proximity, Sociology, 36, pp. 255–274.
57.
WeareC.LogesW. E.OztasN. (2005) Does the Internet enhance the capacity of community associations?, in: van den BesselaarG.de MichelisG.PreeceJ.SimoneC. (Eds) Proceedings of the 2nd Annual Conference on Communities and Technologies, pp. 1–18. Dordrecht: Springer.
