Digital Cities : The Internet and the Geography of Opportunity

This book, the outcome of several years of research , is an important addition to the literature on digital cities. The approach, the arguments, the methodology, and the outcomes, some of which challenge long held simplistic views, make this a book to be commended to researchers , students, urban planners, and policy makers working in the multidisciplinary field of Urban e-Planning. The book has 9 chapters, an extended list of references, and 6 pages of end notes with useful details, including references and web links for further exploration. The book includes three appendixes, useful for all those interested to develop similar studies, in particular students in the field of e-government or e-planning. Appendix A (pp. 205-293) publishes data and the results of the statistical analysis, Appendix B describes the variables and the coding process (pp. 295-308), and Appendix C (pp. 309-222) includes the questionnaire used in 2008 to collect data for this research project. In the first chapter (Cities and Digital Society) the authors offer an overview of the role cities can play in the digital society, discuss the role of the US federal broadband policy and how it has addressed rural and urban areas, and argue in favor of a stronger intervention in urban and metropolitan areas, since " the market alone will not produce anything close to universal access and adoption " (pp. 9), a perspective policy-makers should consider in the design of projects in the field of urban e-planning. The chapter ends with a description of the book and includes also a few words on methods. This is followed in chapter 2 (The Need for Urban Broadband Policy) by a general overview of the US federal policy on broadband policy and by the discussion of the role of cities and metropolitan areas for achieving national goals. The authors offer a discussion of the US federal policy for broadband, as well as a discussion of the role cities and metropolitan areas can play to achieve policy goals defined in this field BOOK REVIEW