Publication details
Mobile phone network data – just a buzzword or a gamechanger in data-based urban planning?
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
| Citation | |
| Description | Mobile phone location data are now seen as a potentially powerful base providing information for urban and planning and decision-making. The use of this type of data is no longer the exclusive domain of academic research - various public bodies are purchasing aggregated outputs and analyses from mobile service providers. This market is driven by the increasing mobility of urban society as well as the complexity and temporal variability of urban structures. A major motivation for planning mobile city is the shift towards data/evidence-based urban policies, using data that represents the non-static urban population. Mobile phone location data has thus become a planning buzzword, often discussed by politicians and planners. At the same time, it is not only the technical qualities of this data, but also its symbolic value and political expectations that make it an interesting phenomenon in planning urban futures. Our paper, empirically based on the situation in the Czech Republic, assesses from a socio-geographical perspective the data and analytical products of mobile operators offered to public institutions. Using the example of the two largest Czech cities - Prague and Brno - we aim to explore not only the technical aspects of the products, but also the strategies of using mobile data in urban and metropolitan planning. By mapping the transition from a scientific topic to a commercial planning product, we draw attention to the limits of interpretation and weaknesses of the use of similar datasets, as well as to the importance of the role of professionals in refining and contextualising them. |