Nancy Odendaal
ABSTRACT
Many metropolitan areas, particularly in South Africa, contain urban and peri-urban settlement typologies representative of a diverse range of built forms, lifestyles and livelihoods. Access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is influenced by geography, market demand and affordability at household and individual levels. This paper explores how this relationship is manifested spatially in the South African context. The result is not altogether surprising; remote peri-urban areas face bigger obstructions to ubiquitous access due to a number of reasons. Affordability and infrastructure distribution are clearly influential. The assumption is that digital divides exist but little systematic research has been done on how these differences manifest at a metropolitan scale. This paper explores the relationship between the digital divide and spatial trends in Durban, South Africa.
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