Telecommunications and the City provides the first critical and state-of-the-art review of the relations between telecommunications and all aspects of city development and management. Drawing on a range of theoretical approaches and a wide body of recent research, the book addresses key academic and policy debates about technological change and the future of cities with a fresh perspective. Through this approach, the complex and crucial transformations underway in cities in which telecommunications have central importance are mapped out and illustrated. Key areas where telecommunications impinge on the economic, social, physical, enviromental and institutional development of cities are illustrated by using boxed extracts and wide range of case study examples from Europe, Japan and North America. Rejecting the extremes of optimism and pessimism in current hype about cities and telecommunications, Telecommunications and the City offers a sophisticated new perspective through which city-telecommunications relations can be understood.

The first critical and state-of-the-art review of the relations between telecommunications and all aspects of city development and management. Includes case studies from Europe, Japan and North America.

First published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

China's telecommunications industry has seen revolutionary transformation and growth over the past three decades. Chinese Internet users number nearly 150 million, and the PRC expects to quickly pass the US in total numbers of connected citizens. The number of mobile and fixed-line telephone users soared from a mere 2 million in 1980 to a total of nearly 800 million in 2007. China has been the most successful developing nation in history for spreading telecommunications access at an unparalleled rapid pace. This book tells how China conducted its remarkable "telecommunications revolution". It examines both corporate and government policy to get citizens connected to both voice and data networks, looks at the potential challenges to the one-party government when citizens get this access, and considers the new opportunities for networking now offered to the people of one of the world's fastest growing economies. The book is based on the author's fieldwork conducted in several Chinese cities, as well as extensive archival research. It focuses on key issues such as building and running the country's Internet, mobile phone company rivalry, foreign investment in the sector, and telecommunications in China's vibrant city of Shanghai. It also considers the country's internal "digital divide", and questions how equitable the telecommunications revolution has been. Finally, it examines the ways the PRC's entry to the World Trade Organization will shape the future course of telecommunications growth.

Despite the massive growth of mobile technologies, very little research has been done on how these technologies influence human interaction. Most of the published work in this area focuses on technological aspects and not on the social implications the technology is having on society. This book aims to fill this gap by providing an overview of these issues. It identifies the major trends, discusses the main claims made about the mobile age, and looks at issues which affect design, usability and evaluation. This unique look at the mobile age provides many interesting and important insights and will appeal to anyone designing, testing, or studying mobile devices.

Making a neighborhood of a nation -- Professor Morse's lightning -- Antimonopoly -- The new postalic dispensation -- Rich man's mail -- The talking telegraph -- Telephomania -- Second nature -- Gray wolves -- Universal service -- One great medium?

Bringing together a vast range of debates and examples of city changes based on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), this book illustrates how new media in cities shapes societies, economies and cultures.