Transportation, telecommunications and the changing geography of opportunity

This paper presents a new analytical framework that incorporates location, transportation, and telecommunications into a unified representation of spatial relationships. This analytical framework characterizes the spatial and social effects of telecommunications in terms of changes in accessibility, it enables clearer thinking and more-rigorous analysis of how information and communication technologies interact with location, transportation, and socioeconomic variables in the modification of spatial configurations of American metropolitan areas. It facilitates structured explorations of the ways in which different socioeconomic groups will be positioned in the emerging geography of opportunity. Results of a case study of employment accessibility, which applies the new analytical framework, are discussed. They indicate that geographic location per se is of reduced importance in determining accessibility, whereas transportation and, increasingly, telecommunications options are becoming more and more important. On the other hand, the results suggest that the distribution of accessibility benefits generated by advanced technologies is not independent of preexisting geographic configurations.