The Social Construction of the Urban Use of Information Technology: The Case of Tampere, Finland Tommi Inkinen T HIS paper explores the social use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the city of Tampere, Finland. It focuses on two essential elements: the city (as the location with national context) and citizens (as members of the “local” information society). This division is, on the one hand, very natural and yet, on the other hand, highly problematic because cities and their current state of “informational development” are commonly assessed through the activities of the ICT industry. A good example is a book by Komninos, which ana- lyses “intelligent cities” as locations of innovative production: they are thus measurable through the volume of research and development investments and other “techno-economic” metrics. Similarly, if the information society is measured through citizens, the statistics used generally concern households’ levels of technol- ogy ownership or quantitative data on Internet use. First, it is necessary to make some conceptual remarks regard- ing the information society, its citizenship, and its geography. In this paper, “information society” refers to the use of technology through three dimensions. First, there is the differentiated ICT competence level of individuals. In the analysis of the ICT use by citizens, it is necessary to consider digital divides as an undeniable element of the information society. There will always be groups incapable or unwilling to use or adopt contemporary Journal of Urban Technology, Volume 13, Number 3, pages 49–75. Copyright # 2006 by The Society of Urban Technology. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. ISSN: 1063-0732 paper=ISSN: 1466-1853 online DOI: 10.1080=10630730601146052 The Social Construction of the Urban Use of Information Technology 49