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The Economic Geography of the Internet’s Infrastructure

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  • Edward J. Malecki

Abstract

The Internet is perhaps the defining technology of the emerging twenty-first century. This article examines the infrastructure that comprises the “network of networks” and the spatial patterns that have emerged in the Internet’s short existence. In its brief history, the Internet has manifested a tentative relationship with the urban hierarchy. This relationship is tracked over a four-year period (1997 to 2000), during which firms made massive investments in new fiber-optic lines and upgrades. A global bias of Internet backbone networks toward world cities is evident, and it is tempered only slightly by a set of urban areas that serve as interconnection points between backbone networks. Interconnection is both critical to the functioning of the Internet and the source of its greatest complications.

Suggested Citation

  • Edward J. Malecki, 2002. "The Economic Geography of the Internet’s Infrastructure," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 78(4), pages 399-424, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:78:y:2002:i:4:p:399-424
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2002.tb00193.x
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    Cited by:

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    2. Desmond Bast & Constance Carr & Karinne Madron & Ahmad Mafaz Syrus, 2022. "Four reasons why data centers matter, five implications of their social spatial distribution, one graphic to visualize them," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 54(3), pages 441-445, May.
    3. Xuanwei Chen & Mingwang Cheng & Xue Yang & Zhen Chu & Kaifeng Duan, 2023. "Smart Cities Are More Populous: Evidence from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-22, October.
    4. Joël Cariolle, 2018. "Telecommunication Submarine-Cable Deployment and the Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa," CESifo Working Paper Series 7415, CESifo.
    5. Edward J. Malecki, 2002. "Hard and Soft Networks for Urban Competitiveness," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 39(5-6), pages 929-945, May.
    6. Stefan Apostol & Eduardo Hernández-Rodríguez, 2023. "Digitalisation in European regions: Unravelling the impact of relatedness and complexity on digital technology adoption and productivity growth," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2317, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2023.
    7. Cariolle, Joël, 2021. "International connectivity and the digital divide in Sub-Saharan Africa," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    8. Wang, Jiaoe & Du, Delin & Huang, Jie, 2020. "Inter-city connections in China: High-speed train vs. inter-city coach," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    9. Mack, Elizabeth A. & Maciejewski, Ross, 2015. "A profile of visual analytical toolkits for understanding the spatio-temporal evolution of broadband provision," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(3), pages 320-332.
    10. Anita Thonipara & Rolf Sternberg & Till Proeger & Lukas Haefner, 2023. "Digital divide, craft firms’ websites and urban-rural disparities—empirical evidence from a web-scraping approach [Digital Divide, Websites von Handwerksunternehmen und städtisch-ländliche Disparit," Review of Regional Research: Jahrbuch für Regionalwissenschaft, Springer;Gesellschaft für Regionalforschung (GfR), vol. 43(1), pages 69-99, April.
    11. Renato A. Orozco Pereira & Ben Derudder, 2010. "Determinants of Dynamics in the World City Network, 2000-2004," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(9), pages 1949-1967, August.
    12. Ng, Adolf K.Y. & Jiang, Changmin & Li, Xiaoyu & O'Connor, Kevin & Lee, Paul Tae-Woo, 2018. "A conceptual overview on government initiatives and the transformation of transport and regional systems," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 199-203.
    13. Türk, Umut & Östh, John & Kourtit, Karima & Nijkamp, Peter, 2021. "The path of least resistance explaining tourist mobility patterns in destination areas using Airbnb data," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    14. Shenzhen Tian & Jialin Jiang & Hang Li & Xueming Li & Jun Yang & Chuanglin Fang, 2023. "Flow space reveals the urban network structure and development mode of cities in Liaoning, China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-17, December.
    15. Camilo Acosta & Luis Baldomero-Quintana, 2024. "Quality of communications infrastructure, local structural transformation, and inequality," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 24(1), pages 117-144.
    16. Ben Derudder & Peter Taylor & Pengfei Ni & Anneleen De Vos & Michael Hoyler & Heidi Hanssens & David Bassens & Jin Huang & Frank Witlox & Wei Shen & Xiaolan Yang, 2010. "Pathways of Change: Shifting Connectivities in the World City Network, 2000—08," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(9), pages 1861-1877, August.
    17. Bruno Moriset, 2003. "The New Economy in the City: Emergence and Location Factors of Internet-based Companies in the Metropolitan Area of Lyon, France," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(11), pages 2165-2186, October.
    18. Emmanouil Tranos, 2011. "The Topology and the Emerging Urban Geographies of the Internet Backbone and Aviation Networks in Europe: A Comparative Study," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 43(2), pages 378-392, February.
    19. Sujuan Li & Xiaohui Zhang & Xueling Wu & Erbin Xu, 2022. "Exploration of Urban Network Spatial Structure Based on Traffic Flow, Migration Flow and Information Flow: A Case Study of Shanxi Province, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-18, December.
    20. Owusu-Agyei, Samuel & Okafor, Godwin & Chijoke-Mgbame, Aruoriwo Marian & Ohalehi, Paschal & Hasan, Fakhrul, 2020. "Internet adoption and financial development in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    21. Ben Derudder, 2006. "On Conceptual Confusion in Empirical Analyses of a Transnational Urban Network," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 43(11), pages 2027-2046, October.
    22. V. I. Blanutsa & K. A. Cherepanov, 2019. "Regional Information Flows: Existing and New Approaches to Geographical Study," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 97-106, January.
    23. Kourtit, Karima & Nijkamp, Peter, 2018. "Big data dashboards as smart decision support tools for i-cities – An experiment on stockholm," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 24-35.

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