2026-09-19T03:57:21Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/300412022-01-13T07:54:44Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131022
William J. Mitchell.
Townsend, Anthony M. (Anthony Michael), 1973-
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
2006-03-24T18:14:14Z
2006-03-24T18:14:14Z
2003
2003
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30041
55089519
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 2003.
Includes bibliographical references.
This dissertation examines the development of digital network infrastructure in the world's great cities at the turn of the 20th century. Drawing upon the concept of cities as information systems and techniques of communications geography, it analyzes how the physical components of digital networks were deployed in major urban areas during the 1990s. It finds that historical processes and pre-existing differences between places shaped the evolution of this infrastructure at multiple spatial scales; global, metropolitan, and neighborhood. As a result, rather than bringing about the "death of distance", digital network infrastructure actually reinforced many of the pre-existing differences between connected and disconnected places. With the telecom bust of 2000-2002, these differences were likely to persist for a decade or more. Yet just as the development of wired digital network infrastructure slowed, wireless technologies emerged as a more flexible, intuitive, and efficient form of connecting users to networks in everyday urban settings. As a result, an untethered model for digital networks emerged which combining the capacity and security of wired networks over long distances with the flexibility and mobility of wireless networks over short distances. This new hybrid infrastructure provided the technology needed to begin widespread experimentation with the creation of digitally mediated spaces, such as New York City's Bryant Park Wireless Network.
by Anthony M. Townsend.
Ph.D.
208 p.
9409295 bytes
9409102 bytes
application/pdf
application/pdf
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Urban Studies and Planning.
Wired / unwired : the urban geography of digital networks
Urban geography of digital networks
Thesis
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