Guest talk: Esteban Moro "Beyond the Census: Understanding Urban Areas Through Behavioral Mobility Data"

Beyond the Census: Understanding Urban Areas Through Behavioral Mobility Data

Esteban Moro
Network Science Institute, Northeastern University

In urban studies, traditional census data provides a static snapshot of cities, often missing the dynamic, real-time interactions that shape urban life and underpin the resilience of our communities.  In this talk, I will present our recent research on understanding the dynamics of our cities by analyzing massive behavioral mobility data from mobile phones, credit cards, or social media and its relationship with networked inequalities, such as experienced segregation, access to healthy food, adaptation to the recent pandemic, and public transportation interventions. I will also discuss the methodological challenges and opportunities of using these datasets for population-wide analysis, from managing potential biases to designing better causal inferences of the impact of policies. Finally, I will comment on potential data-driven interventions to reinforce the social fabric in cities and mitigate the detrimental impacts of networked inequalities.