Theorizing Digital and Urban Inequalities

Contemporary research on disparities in access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) – what is commonly referred to as the digital divide – is limited in terms of its ability to explain the interrelationships between digital and urban inequalities. Drawing upon critical geographical conceptualizations of the relationships between power, place, and scale, and a Bourdieusian conceptualization of technological and social capital, this article proposes a model of the interconnections between urban and digital inequalities from the vantage point of the everyday experiences of economically marginalized urban residents in the United States. On the basis of this model, the author suggests a future research agenda that examines the empowerment or disempowerment of people related to ICTs in relation to their own frameworks for ICT use; how technological capacity is related to technological and social capital embedded in particular places; and how technical capacity is developed across multiple spaces and multiple arenas situated in a broader analysis of inequality.