I have used non-traditional data, such as mobility data derived from cell-phones, to inquire whether different socio-economic groups in Mexico interact physically in the city or live in “parallel worlds”. A similar approach was used in six big Colombian cities (Medellin, Bogotá, Barranquilla, Monteria, San Andres, and Valledupar). In this case, I used a mix of traditional survey data, official statistics as well as non-traditional data, precisely cell-phone metadata from which indicators were computed by the data controller Telefonica-Movistar through a specific agreement to try to understand crime dynamics in these cities.
This new methodology has brought several relevant empirical results, among them, the following:
- a study about Mexico City showed one the very first empirical evidence of urban socio-spatial fragmentation leveraging mobility data, meaning the fact that different social groups access and use urban spaces in very different ways, and have few opportunities for physical social interactions.
- a study in multiple cities about the correlation of mobility data and crime produced significant results and showed that crime issues need to be tackled independently in each city, as there are no common patterns
- another study in Medellín, Colombia, showed that there is a relationship between the type and strength of social capital and crime patterns and trends.
Critical methodological innovations where also achieved:
- a study in Senegal related to the Sustainable Goal 7 proposed a novel spatio-temporal multi-target Bayesian regression model that provides accurate intercensal microestimates for household electrification and clean cooking fuel access by combining multiple types of earth-observation data, census, and surveys.
- research in 6 Colombian cities about crime dynamics using mobility, communication, and census data produced the development of estimates of 2 types of social capital commonly referred to as bringing capital and bonding capital based on cell-phone activity.
- the use of data on IOS device usage in Lebanon explains 90% of the out-of-sample variance in poverty across Lebanon.
- a new approach for measuring migration(s) as a demographic survival function, also relying on novel data sources (telecom operator data and geotagged social media data).
Moreover, the research has paved the way for additional research projects currently underway or about to start including on youth and gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, with funding from UNICEF Haiti, and climate-induced migration in Senegal with funding from the Belmont Forum.