This project is researching the current surge in government, market and community investment in public Wi-Fi in Australia.
This research positions publicly provided Wi-Fi as a type of urban and civic infrastructure and asks whether there is a sound case for public investment in public Wi-Fi by local governments.
Australia lags behind much of the world in providing public wireless internet access, but a surge of investment is closing the gap.
This field-based research will critically appraise rationales for public Wi-Fi provision by examining the social, economic and civic impacts of network use. This project will fill major empirical and knowledge gaps about investment rationales, uses, and impacts of public Wi-Fi networks, and inform development of urban and communications policies.