Socio-Spatial Configurations of Digital Availability: A Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of Istanbul’s 39 Districts

Urban digital transformation is commonly framed as a function of information and communication technology (ICT) provision, treating the socio-spatial conditions that shape technology uptake as background. Empirical work is correspondingly spatially blind and aggregates distinct dimensions of digital availability into composite indices that assume shared determinants. This study addresses both gaps in Istanbul, a developing-country megacity whose districts differ sixfold in household income. Thirty-one indicators for all 39 districts are reduced by principal component analysis to four ICT dimensions and three socio-spatial conditions, keeping conditions proportionate to cases. No condition proves necessary, so fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis identifies the configurations sufficient for each dimension and for its absence. The dimensions share no common configuration: digital entrepreneurship follows socio-economic status alone (coverage 0.855, consistency 0.849); public Wi-Fi provision relative to fixed broadband follows economic activity in ageing districts (0.548, 0.844); mobile access with digital-learning provision follows economic activity in young or low-status districts (0.629, 0.821); and digital skills (0.777, 0.714) arise both from socio-economic status and, independently of it, from economic activity. Because the same condition accompanies different outcomes depending on the socio-spatial structure it meets, policy must be matched to the configuration of the district it addresses rather than applied city-wide.