LIBERALIZED UTILITIES, NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND URBAN SOCIAL POLARIZATION- THE UK EXPERIENCE

This article explores the urban social impacts of the radical liberali zation and privatization of British utilities since the early 1980s, a nd relates these impacts to broader shifts towards more socially fragm ented cities. The article has three parts. The first part introduces t he experimental political project through which British telecommunicat ions, gas, water and electricity networks were privatized and liberali zed during the 1980s. In the second part, the changing relationships b etween these key network utilities and the users of utility services a re analysed and the broad logic of 'splintering networks' is identifie d. Three elements of this restructuring are explored: the 'rebalancing ' of tariffs and cost-reflective pricing; the use of new metering tech nologies for 'cherry picking' affluent consumers while 'socially dumpi ng' more marginal ones; and the development of new IT strategies for s upporting the social construction of segmented markets. The concluding part of the article identifies the implications of the reorientation of utilities for social and spatial polarization within cities, and dr aws out implications for urban policy and research.