The Need for Urban Broadband Policy

Why and how are cities important sites for national broadband policy? This chapter reviews the economic and urban research on the role of cities in the economy and society, and discusses the stimulus funding and the National Broadband Plan in terms of the relevance of cities for national goals. Yet, less than 8 percent of the stimulus funding was allocated to metropolitan areas, primarily for training or public access rather than home access. A history of local government efforts demonstrates that local governments took up the issue when it had dropped from federal agendas. Yet, cities alone have not had sufficient resources to solve the policy problems. The chapter closes with a discussion of the goals and perspectives of city actors based on interviews with officials from seven major cities with active broadband initiatives.