Digital Transition and New Forms of Spatial Inequality

Tiit Tammaru, Kadi Kalm, Rūta Ubarevičienė, Veronika Mooses, Anto Aasa and Olle Järv
Additional contact information
Tiit Tammaru: Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia
Kadi Kalm: Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia
Rūta Ubarevičienė: Institute of Sociology, Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Lithuania
Veronika Mooses: Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia
Anto Aasa: Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia
Olle Järv: Department of Geography, University of Tartu, Estonia / Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Finland

Social Inclusion, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: This thematic issue examines how digital transition reshapes spatial inequalities by reconfiguring relationships between people, places, and opportunities. We frame the contributions around three interrelated mechanisms—place attractiveness, access to opportunities, and the coordination of activities— that operate through housing and labour markets. Digital transition reshapes all three mechanisms, generating spatially uneven outcomes across the settlement system. Rather than producing a fundamental spatial shift or simply reproducing existing inequalities, it repositions people and places into more networked and multilocal arrangements. Suburban areas emerge as key beneficiaries, large cities retain their dominance in employment while facing intensifying housing pressures, and rural areas are increasingly reoriented towards residence and consumption, with amenity‐rich localities gaining while more peripheral areas face compounding disadvantage. We identify three avenues for future research: the implications of remote work for residential mobility and immobility; unequal household capacities to coordinate activities across digital and physical space; and the need for a multi‐scalar perspective to better understand the shift towards networked and multilocal spatial arrangements as everyday activities increasingly span physical and digital space.

Keywords: digital divide; digital transformation; housing market; labour market; multilocality; remote work; segregation; spatial inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.cogitatiopress.com/socialinclusion/article/view/12508 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:socinc:v14:y:2026:a:12508

DOI: 10.17645/si.12508

Access Statistics for this article

Social Inclusion is currently edited by Mariana Pires

More articles in Social Inclusion from Cogitatio Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by António Vieira () and IT Department ().