As cities across Africa, Asia and Latin America race to digitize services and “smarten” urban life, the promise of connected streets, mobile citizen platforms, and data-driven governance is often tempered by a stark reality: not all urban residents benefit equally — and many are excluded altogether. The enthusiasm for digitalization in urban governance — from smart traffic systems to e-government services — has far-reaching consequences. Yet, in many Global South cities, the very people these innovations are aimed at remain on the margins of connectivity, locked out by structural inequality, lack of infrastructure, and gaps in digital skills. (MDPI)
The Promise of Digital Cities
Across the world, digital technologies are being integrated into the fabric of city management. Smartphones and data analytics help city officials monitor traffic, manage waste collection, deliver utility bills digitally, and provide citizens with instant alerts during emergencies. Proponents argue that such technologies improve efficiency, responsiveness, and sustainability — core components of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 11, which calls for inclusive, safe and resilient cities. (ITU)
In cities like Nairobi, digital platforms and mobile applications are used to report issues like traffic congestion, abandoned vehicles, or safety risks — theoretically giving citizens a voice and authorities real-time insights. (Arab Urban Institute) Digital payment systems enable citizens to pay for transport or utility services without cash. Identity platforms such as India’s biometric Aadhaar have facilitated access to social services and banking for millions. (MDPI)
Yet the very conditions needed to use these systems — affordable connectivity, internet access, digital skills and devices — are not universally available.
A Modern Urban Fault Line
The “digital divide” — the gap between those with and without reliable access to modern information technology — has long been understood as a global North-South issue. But within cities themselves, this divide continues to shape who can participate in the digital era and who is left behind. (Brookings)
In the Global South, the patterns of exclusion are multidimensional:
- Infrastructure gaps: Even in large cities, broadband and mobile internet coverage may be patchy, slow, or prohibitively expensive in low-income areas.
- Device affordability: Smartphones and computers remain too costly for many families living on daily wages or in informal settlements.
- Skills and literacy: Without digital literacy — the ability to use apps, navigate websites, or understand online systems — access to services remains superficial.
- Algorithmic marginalization: Automated systems that make decisions on service delivery or eligibility can entrench bias if data is incomplete or unrepresentative. (MDPI)
Academic research shows that despite widespread adoption of technology in urban governance, digital inequalities persist. This gap deepens not only because of technical barriers but because of social factors such as age, education, income and location — dividing “digital citizens” from the digitally excluded. (MDPI)
What Inclusion Really Means
For a digital city to be inclusive, access alone isn’t enough. Cities must ensure meaningful access — reliable connectivity, affordable devices, training in digital skills, and platforms designed to be accessible to all populations, including older adults, people with disabilities, and the urban poor. (MDPI)
What’s more, inclusion requires that technology enhances democratic participation rather than concentrates power. Digital governance should not replace citizen engagement with algorithmic decision-making that appears efficient but lacks transparency or accountability. (Cambridge University Press & Assessment)
Nairobi’s Digital Divide
In Nairobi, Kenya’s fast-growing capital, digital tools are reshaping urban life. Mobile phones and applications allow residents to track transit services, pay bills, access banking, and communicate with local authorities. Nairobi’s tech scene — from startups to government digital platforms — is often held up as a symbol of Africa’s digital transformation. (Arab Urban Institute)
However, beneath the surface of these innovations is a stark contrast between connected urbanites and those living in informal settlements such as Mathare — one of Nairobi’s largest slum communities. Despite Kenya’s overall high mobile penetration and growing broadband infrastructure, significant segments of the urban poor lack meaningful access to the digital systems that are becoming central to daily life. (Nuvoni Centre for Innovation Research)
Mathare’s digital landscape is paradoxical. Mobile phones are ubiquitous, but access to reliable internet remains sporadic, especially where electricity supply is unreliable and mobile data costs are high. Without stable connectivity or affordable devices, residents struggle to connect to digital services that others take for granted — from job platforms and health information to e-government services. (Nuvoni Centre for Innovation Research)
One research initiative in Mathare highlighted that households differ widely in their ability to engage with digital platforms, despite being in the same urban area. Those without consistent internet or electricity were effectively excluded from opportunities that digital inclusion could provide, even when digital tools were theoretically available. (Nuvoni Centre for Innovation Research)
This urban digital divide compounds other inequalities already faced by residents — such as limited access to quality education, healthcare, employment and formal housing — leading to what scholars call adverse digital incorporation, where inclusion in a digital system may nonetheless benefit more advantaged groups more than the disadvantaged. (arXiv)
Beyond Nairobi: A Global South Perspective
Nairobi’s experience reflects broader regional patterns. In Uganda, studies show that while mobile phone ownership is relatively high, actual access to the internet and the skills to use digital services are far more limited, with women, rural residents, and people with lower incomes disproportionately excluded. (INCLUDE Platform)
In Ethiopia, where only a small fraction of the population has internet access, digital exclusion has widespread consequences for education, employment and access to information — especially outside the capital city of Addis Ababa. (Wikipedia)
Latin American cities face similar divides: affluent neighbourhoods benefit from high-speed connectivity and digital amenities, while poorer districts fall further behind, missing out on e-learning, telehealth and digital job opportunities. (arXiv)
What Cities Can Do
Despite these challenges, effective strategies exist to reduce digital exclusion and ensure urban digitalization benefits all residents:
1. Build Affordable, Accessible Connectivity
Lower the cost of mobile data and expand broadband infrastructure to underserved neighbourhoods. Partnerships between governments, community organisations and telecom providers can ensure that connectivity reaches informal settlements and low-income areas.
2. Invest in Digital Skills Training
Access to technology must be paired with digital literacy programs that teach residents how to use online platforms, understand data security, and engage with digital public services.
3. Design for Inclusion
City digital services must be user-centred — simple, multilingual, accessible to people with disabilities, and available through low-tech alternatives where possible.
Montevideo, for example, has shown that inclusive digital strategies — combining connectivity, devices, and community training — can empower older adults, low-income families, and digitally inexperienced residents to participate fully in civic life. (use.metropolis.org)
4. Safeguard Digital Rights
Policies must protect privacy, prevent algorithmic bias, and ensure citizens can contest automated decisions. Publicly accountable governance must guide how data is collected and used, particularly when private tech companies are involved.
Inclusion Is a Choice
As digital technologies become central to urban governance, they can either deepen inequality or help bridge it. For cities in the Global South, how digitalization is implemented matters more than the technology itself. Without intentional policies that address infrastructure, skills, affordability, design and rights, digital urbanization will leave many — particularly the poorest and most marginalised — on the wrong side of the divide.
In Nairobi and cities across the Global South, the real measure of progress won’t be how many apps the city has, but how many people can access, use, and benefit from them. Digital inclusion isn’t automatic — it requires policy choices grounded in equity, participation and the lived realities of all urban residents.
Sure Media Magazine 
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