A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
There was a time when municipal WiFi was being touted as the next big thing. Authors, and I was one of them, wrote glowingly about the coming revolution that would transform sleepy old towns and cities into modern metropolises hospitable to widespread wireless Internet use. The digital divide between rich and poor would be bridged. Industries would move into these twenty-first century telecommunication Meccas, and municipalities would have sophisticated communication systems that would help them more effectively govern and protect. More importantly, municipalities and entrepreneurs began pouring millions of dollars into these municipal WiFi projects. Industries arose to support the build-outs. Consultants filled the information gap. That was 2006–2007. More recently, the bloom appears to have fallen off the rose. Major projects shut down just as they were starting up, and the writers are now pointing to the death of municipal WiFi.
What happened that might help explain the rather sudden apparent shift from a spirited boom in municipal WiFi to its alleged demise? And is that alleged demise a sign of the end or another beginning in the broadbanding of American cities? This article examines the recent history of U.S. urban municipal WiFi projects in search of lessons to be learned from the changes and assesses important next steps.
There was a time when municipal WiFi was being touted as the next big thing. Authors, and I was one of them, wrote glowingly about the coming revolution that would transform sleepy old towns and cities into modern metropolises hospitable to widespread wireless Internet use. The digital divide between rich and poor would be bridged. Industries would move into these twenty-first century telecommunication Meccas, and municipalities would have sophisticated communication systems that would help them more effectively govern and protect. More importantly, municipalities and entrepreneurs began pouring millions of dollars into these municipal WiFi projects. Industries arose to support the build-outs. Consultants filled the information gap. That was 2006–2007. More recently, the bloom appears to have fallen off the rose. Major projects shut down just as they were starting up, and the writers are now pointing to the death of municipal WiFi.
What happened that might help explain the rather sudden apparent shift from a spirited boom in municipal WiFi to its alleged demise? And is that alleged demise a sign of the end or another beginning in the broadbanding of American cities? This article examines the recent history of U.S. urban municipal WiFi projects in search of lessons to be learned from the changes and assesses important next steps.
Municipal WiFi: The Coda
Jassem, Harvey C. (author)
Journal of Urban Technology ; 17 ; 3-20
2010-08-01
18 pages
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
Unknown
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