The Making of a Sustainable Wireless City? Mapping Public Wi-Fi Access in Shanghai

Abstract

Abstract:In the context of the global information economy, ready access to the Internet is critical to a city's competitiveness, which has prompted a number of cities to launch plans to establish wireless networks. Most literature on the development of wireless cities focuses on cities in Western countries, and few have discussed how Chinese cities have adopted wireless technologies in their urban infrastructure development efforts. This paper examines recent development and spatial distribution of public Wi-Fi access in Shanghai, a leading business hub in China. We mapped Wi-Fi hotspots through the government sponsored "i-Shanghai" project and China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC). We find that while telecommunication providers have been proactively deploying WLAN (wireless local area network, a proxy of public Wi-Fi or wireless access) hotspots in Shanghai, neither government sponsored WLAN hotspots nor facilities established by CMCC could cover the old traditional neighborhoods in the central city and sub-districts in remote rural areas. We also address the development of a more sustainable wireless city in Shanghai with a particular focus on digital divide and social equity issues.

Internet Access, Spillover and Regional Development in China

“…Our result is consistent with findings from a recent European Union report [32]. Scientific and technological innovation has been concentrated in the most developed regions, and these regions have become more agglomerated [50,58,59]. …”

“…Urban residents tend to have higher levels of human capital than non-urban residents [22]. The concepts of the smart city [49] and the wireless city [50], which emphasize that information and communication technologies will play an essential role in city management and public services, have recently attracted considerable attention from scholars and policymakers.…”

Geography of Inequality in Asia

“…Increasing attention has been paid to urban inequalities, and studies have found that Chinese cities have become more unequal. New urban problems similar to those found in the United States are also emerging, such as residential segregation, spatial mismatch, and digital divide, with high inequalities of housing, education, and health (see Wang and others ). The distribution of high‐quality public resources is also highly uneven within cities, as they are often concentrated in city centers and, to a lesser extent, newly developed subcenters.…”

Towards Equitable and Sustainable Urban Space: Introduction to Special Issue on “Urban Land and Sustainable Development”

“…Wang et al examine Shanghai's adoption of wireless technologies in urban and infrastructure development and the spatial distribution of public Wi-Fi access in Shanghai [45]. By mapping both government-sponsored hotspots through the "i-Shanghai" project and the hotspots established by China Mobile Communications Corporation (CMCC), they find that Shanghai's telecommunication providers have been proactive in arranging WLAN hotspots (a proxy of public Wi-Fi or wireless access).…”