Factors of the Digital Divide in Rotterdam

The digital divide has been a new form of social exclusion and has become a popular but controversial concept due to recent technologies, new ways of communication, and new ways of doing business to the point that institutions such as the European Commission, World Economic Forum, and governments have started treating the topic as an indicator of economic growth and societal development. However, due to ongoing technological innovations, digital exclusion is a dynamic process which is difficult to measure and address. Nonetheless, cities continue to digitalize and therefore it is relevant to study who is excluded. The city of Rotterdam is in this process of digitalization and is a particular case of study; the unique characteristics of the city, like its superdiversity and function as the main port of Europe, make the digital divide an interesting topic to study in order to develop valuable tools for policymaking. The Netherlands itself is a country ranked at the top of Europe in terms of digitalization and ICTs, but to measure what is happening in Rotterdam on the city-level, more in depth studies are needed. This research explores theories and models of measuring the digital divide because the concept is a social topic which implies a complexity that cannot be measured only by access to the internet. The concept has been divided into four levels using Jan Van Dijk’s Model of Accessibility to Digital Technologies (ADT) from previous studies in the Netherlands. The levels are Motivation Access, Material Access, Skills Access, and Usage Access. The main objective of this research is to explore the theory of the digital divide and use quantitative data to find the factors which determine the gap in the district of Charlois with a special focus in the neighborhood of Carnisse. This area was selected due to the public sector interest, its low rank in the neighborhood profiles of Rotterdam, and the increasing attention of the municipality in developing the area. With this study, the idea is to create a framework for further studies that can be applied to the rest of the districts to then create a general description of the digital exclusion in the whole city. Considering the available literature and through the collection of quantitative data, this research conducts econometric analysis and determines that basic demographic factors such as Age, Gender, Education, Income, or Nationality indeed explain the Digital Divide in Carnisse. However, the findings are complex in that some demographic factors determine some of the levels, and others determine other levels. For this reason, an Index of Digital Inclusion was also created to score the neighborhood in the four levels of accessibility. With its selected methodology and developed survey, this research provides a robust conceptual framework and practical way of measuring the ADT model of Van Dijk. The specific variables selected to measure each level and the methodology of creating the compound variables present a useful tool and a practical way of analyzing the topic for further research in the whole city. As a result of the increasing interest in studying the topic, the public interest in reducing the gap, and the interest in developing the area of Carnise, this thesis is intended to contribute to the lack of studies and knowledge by providing a practical way of measuring the digital exclusion that can lead to clear recommendations for policymakers.