Broadband Part Two: Understanding the Digital Divide (DVRPC)

Broadband Part Two: Understanding the Digital Divide
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC)

This report discusses broadband's importance by sector and the trends it has facilitated, and ultimately looks to answer the question:

To what extent does a digital divide exist at the neighborhood level, and what were the ramifications of such a divide during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Importance by Sector

Broadband is increasingly important for economic, education, health, transportation, and emergency management reasons. Its availability can have significant ramifications for the region’s digital divide.

Trends Facilitated by Broadband

The availability of and access to broadband has changed the ways in which the public informs and entertains itself, as well as how people shop, communicate, and commute.

The Region's Digital Divide

Greater Philadelphia's digital divide is more an issue of cost than of availability. Low-income, minority communities disproportionately fall on the wrong side of the divide. In 2017, the average estimated unemployment rate for the region was 8.0 percent compared to 11.6 percent in census tracts with household broadband below-average rates of subscriptions (less than 79.9 percent).

The Digital Divide and COVID-19

The pandemic has led to the "Great Acceleration" of pre-pandemic trends, and further exacerbated the academic, economic, medical, and social inequities related to the digital divide.

Read the report by clicking on the "Website" button.

Kewords: TrentonHub, Technology, Digital Divide, Digital Equity