IGU Canterbury Meeting
Urban Geography Commission
Emerging Urban Transformations
Canterbury Christ Church University
August 14-20, 2011
CONSUMPTION OF ADVANCED
INTERNET SERVICES IN URBAN AREAS:
A CASE STUDY OF MADRID
Rubén Camilo Lois González
Francisco José Armas Quintá
José Carlos Macía Arce
Research Group Territorial Analysis (ANTE)
University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain)
INTRODUCTION
With Internet, the classic concept of physical
territory and distance has been replaced by
the instantaneous transmission of information
In this context, ICT has led global cities to
concentrate a large percentage of the wealth and
power
Enterprises find in this new Net a new way to
promote their products
OBJECTIVES
The City of Madrid has consolidated itself as a
major European urban reference.
The use of these advanced Internet services by
citizens and business is not equally distributed
throughout the urban spaces.
Contrasts between central cities and their immediate
periphery
MADRID, METROPOLITAN AREA
SOME DATES
Madrid
(municipality)
Total population
(2010)
Foreigner people
(2009)
Statistical areas (NUTS 4)
Metropolitan
Metropolitan
Metropolitan
North
East
South
Metropolitan
West
3,273,049
312,351
633,746
1,275,386
460,837
21.5
18.4
24.6
18.8
16.6
38,539
49,965
23,385
18,544
30,072
Population with
elementary education
or lower (2001)
29.2
23.0
30.3
32.9
14.8
Population employed
in services sector
(2001)
81.3
74.6
67.0
68.6
81.0
GDP per cápita (2007)
MADRID, METROPOLITAN AREA
METHODOLOGICAL NOTES
Data from the National Institute of Statistics and
the Statistical Institute of the Community of Madrid
We used the NUTS4 regional division of
the European Statistics Office.
Two indices have been developed
IPi measures the propensity of the population to use
the Internet
ASi, measures the intensity in the use of advanced
Internet services
ADVANCED INTERNET USERS
Internet access in Spain draws up the rear in
Europe, less than 60% of the population (2009)
In our opinion Spain has two types of digital divide,
a digital divide in access and a digital divide
in Internet services
The digital divide in access separates those
citizens who are and those who are not Internet
users
The digital divide n Internet services separates basic
users of advanced users
ADVANCED INTERNET USERS
IN MADRID
We found substantial differences in the number
of Internet users in Madrid
The smaller municipalities of less than 100,000
inhabitants show the highest values for Internet
users
This indicator is directly related to per capita
income, the population's level of education and the
proportion of the population employed in the service
sector
ADVANCED INTERNET USERS
IN MADRID
Basic services on the Internet, most people use
them regardless of where they live, income, etc.
In the consumption of advanced Internet services,
regional differences were found
Internet users living in smaller urban areas,
corresponding to the northern and western
metropolitan areas have much greater use of
advanced network services
CONSUMPTION OF ADVANCED
INTERNET SERVICES IN MADRID
TENDENCY INTERNET USE IN
MADRID
Statistical areas (NUTS4)
Madrid
Metropolitan Metropolitan Metropolitan Metropolitan
(municipality)
North
East
South
West
IPi
0.63
0.65
0.61
0.60
0.68
INTENSITY OF USE OF
ADVANCED INTERNET SERVICES
IN MADRID
ASi
More than
500,000 inhab.
From 100,000 to
500,000 inhab.
Fewer than
100,000 inhab.
0.60
0.65
0.66
ADVANCED INTERNET SERVICES
IN THE ENTERPRISE SECTOR
Almost all have computers and broadband
Internet connections
The highest values were registered in
the companies in northern and western metropolitan
areas; the lowest were in the southern and eastern
These differences were also detected in terms
of company size and sector, with higher values
being in large companies and the service sector
ENTERPRISES WITH WEBPAGE
Source: Own elaboration from Institute of Statistics of the Community of Madrid, 2010
COMPANIES THAT SELL ON INTERNET
Source: Own elaboration from Institute of Statistics of the Community of Madrid, 2010
E-COMMERCE SALES OVER TOTAL SALES
Source: Own elaboration from Institute of Statistics of the Community of Madrid, 2010
CONCLUSIONS
Considerable spatial differentiation in the use
of advanced Internet services
The northern and western metropolitan areas
register a higher proportion of network users and
more users make use of advanced Internet services
These regions have the highest per capita incomes
in the metropolitan area, as well as a higher level of
education
In the enterprise sector the same trend is repeated