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City buzz: Quantity, quality, and variety implications of the urban environment

Project description

A closer look at how cities change

In some cities, people interact more on the streets than around office water coolers, work in different ways depending on their location, and exhibit varied consumption patterns. The shift to working from home is not the only change; it also involves reorganising the locations and hierarchies of firms. The ERC-funded CITYBUZZ project uses anonymised mobile phone and credit card data to understand how cities are evolving. It examines face-to-face interactions, consumption patterns, and company organisation across different locations. The project aims to distinguish meaningful interactions from casual encounters, measure social connections, and explore how individuals use different venues, considering endogenous amenities and location choices. It also investigates changes in company hierarchies and their impact on employees.

Objective

This research project aims to understand the changing landscape of cities. These are cities where face-to-face interactions happen less around office water coolers and more on the streets; where individuals not only produce differently by location but also have heterogeneous consumption; and where, beyond the adoption of working from home, the transformation of work involves a reorganisation of firms' establishments and hierarchies across locations.

To capture face-to-face interactions accurately, we use anonymised cellphone records to identify spatial and temporal overlaps among users who also have phone conversations. By combining location and call data, meaningful interactions are distinguished from passing strangers, while quantifying social connectivity and distinguishing between strong and weak ties. The project examines variations in quantity, quality, and diversity of face-to-face interactions across spatial contexts. It isolates the effects of the urban environment from personal characteristics by studying individual changes following shocks.

The project also investigates consumption differences across locations. It uses anonymised credit card data to examine the quantity, quality, and variety of consumption venues, going beyond locally available venues to explore how individuals utilise them and accounting for endogenous amenities and location choices. We consider co-consumption evidence, residence, and job information to understand leisure interactions among neighbours, co-workers, and friends.

Finally, we explore changes in the hierarchical organisation of firms across space. Using matched employer-employee data and a model of cities and hierarchies, we investigate how firms organise establishments and managerial hierarchies across locations. Moreover, we examine the relationship between systematic differences in firms' hierarchies across cities and workers' progression to explain the city-size earnings premium.

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Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) ERC-2023-ADG

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Host institution

FUNDACION CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS MONETARIOS Y FINANCIEROS
Net EU contribution
€ 2 491 628,00
Address
CASADO DEL ALISAL 5
28014 Madrid
Spain
SME
Yes
Region
Comunidad de Madrid Comunidad de Madrid Madrid
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost
€ 2 491 628,00

Beneficiaries (1)