Smart Cities for Everyone – Age and Gender as Potential Exclusion Factors

Abstract

The trend towards the digitalization of urban spaces is still unabated and extends through a large number of sectors. While in many smart cities the digitization of the administrative sector has been the main focus so far, elsewhere developments in the areas of mobility, education, security, data platforms, energy supply and IT infrastructure can also be observed. Digitalization is thus increasingly finding its way into the everyday lives of city dwellers. In addition to many new services and opportunities to use familiar structures more conveniently, this development also presents people with new challenges. Modern technologies require a certain amount of prior knowledge and skills that not all participants in society possess in the same way. Large empirical studies on the use of digital applications show that social markers such as age, gender, but also net disposable income, education, family status and place of residence are influencing factors for digital literacy. The results of these studies suggest that some of these characteristics impede access to digital structures and thus contribute to the exclusion of individual groups from smart cities. This paper, therefore, examines the interactions between age and gender and digital infrastructures.