The Appreciative System of Urban ICT Policies: An Analysis of Perceptions of Urban Policy Makers

Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research

Gertner

2012

124

This paper aims to critically assess the lack of a global inter-urban perspective in the smart city policy framework from a conceptual standpoint. We argue here that the smart city policy agenda should be informed by and address the structure of transnational urban networks as this can affect the efficiency of such local policies. The significance of this global network structure is essential as cities do not exist in a vacuum. On the contrary, urban development is heavily based on urban interdependencies found at a global scale. After critically analysing smart city characteristics and the world city network literature, we identify the need for global urban interdependencies to be addressed in a smart city policy framework. While this paper approaches this issue from a theoretical standpoint, some policy examples are also provided.

Section: Research On Global Urban Interdependenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Smart networked cities?

Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research

Gertner

2012

124

“…Although we know that spatial configuration and the importance of agglomeration for social and economic activities is valid in the context of the digital economy, we still do not know if and how the Internet itself is affected by the tyranny of distance. While it is well established that the Internet is a friction‐reducing technology (Cohen, Salomon, and Nijkamp, ; Cohen‐Blankshtain and Nijkamp, ), the effect of distance and proximity on its structure is vague. Even though Wang et al () presented some first evidence on the distance decay effect on information accessibility and D'Ignazio and Giovannetti () highlighted the importance of proximity in bilateral interconnection decisions at Internet Exchange Points in Europe, we still do not know whether the Internet's infrastructural layer is affected by centripetal or centrifugal forces resulting in spatial clustering.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Death of Distance Revisited: Cyber‐place, Physical and Relational Proximities

Journal of Regional Science

Nijkamp

2013

Self Cite

This paper studies the impact of physical distance and different relational proximity types on the formation of the Internet infrastructure. Although there is some anecdotal evidence on the “end of geography” effect of the Internet, the relationship between physical space and the Internet has not been yet scrutinized. Our paper builds upon recent studies in economic geography and relational proximities, and aims to study whether physical distance survives in virtual geography even after controlling for relational proximities. In order to do so, a unique and extensive database with geo‐coded IP links and spatial interaction models with panel data specifications in combination with network analysis are utilized. Our results indicate that physical distance, but also different relational proximities, have a significant impact on the structure of the Internet infrastructure, highlighting the spatiality of the Internet.

“…The spatial distribution of these facilitators might be reflected in or affect the agglomeration of specific ö global ö economic activities (Matsumoto, 2007).From an urban geography perspective, both networks support the world city process (Castells, 1996). Telecommunications, just like transportation, are friction-reducing technologies, because of their ability to reduce the cost of distance (Cohen et al, 2002;Cohen-Blankshtain and Nijkamp, 2004), and enable global interactions by facilitating global economic activity (Malecki and Wei, 2009) and supporting the emergence of a world cities network. As Derudder (2006, page 2029) highlights,``in a networked…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Topology and the Emerging Urban Geographies of the Internet Backbone and Aviation Networks in Europe: A Comparative Study

2011

Environ Plan A

IntroductionThis paper compares the typology and the derived urban geographies of two infrastructural networks: the Internet backbone and the aviation network across European cities. While the latter consists of international intercity aviation links, the former consists of long-haul Internet Protocol (IP) links, which connect long-distance destinations and are responsible for the global character of the Internet (Malecki, 2004). This analysis aims to explore how these networks have developed across European cities, to understand their different topologies, and to compare the way the Internet backbone and the aviation networks interconnect the nodes of the European urban network. This topological exercise can feed a discussion of European urban geography by providing insights into the different roles European cities perform in these networks. As Derudder et al ( 2007) highlight, cities can derive functional centrality due to their roles in infrastructural networks.From an economic geography viewpoint, both the Internet (Malecki, 2002a) and the aviation network (Graham, 1998) facilitate the knowledge-based economy (OECD, 1996): while the Internet transports informational goods (O'Kelly and Grubesic, 2002), the aviation network transports the main actors of the knowledge economy, the people who form the managerial elites (Beaverstock, 2002;Castells, 1996), across the distributed centres of production and consumption so they can interact and acquire complex and tacit knowledge (Rimmer, 1998). In reality, the``spatial organization of the new international division of labour'' (Friedmann, 1986, page 69) is materialised by the advances in these two networks. The spatial distribution of these facilitators might be reflected in or affect the agglomeration of specific ö global ö economic activities (Matsumoto, 2007).From an urban geography perspective, both networks support the world city process (Castells, 1996). Telecommunications, just like transportation, are friction-reducing technologies, because of their ability to reduce the cost of distance (Cohen et al, 2002;Cohen-Blankshtain and Nijkamp, 2004), and enable global interactions by facilitating global economic activity (Malecki and Wei, 2009) and supporting the emergence of a world cities network. As Derudder (2006, page 2029) highlights,``in a networked