A city of cities: Measuring how 15-minutes urban accessibility shapes human mobility in Barcelona

TL;DR

This study measures how local urban accessibility influences human mobility in Barcelona, revealing spatial variations and providing insights into the 15-minute city concept using diverse data and advanced modeling.

Contribution

It introduces a method to quantify 15-minute city qualities at scale and analyzes spatial variations in mobility related to urban accessibility.

Findings

People visit neighborhoods with better access to education and retail.

Spatial variations in mobility are not aligned with administrative boundaries.

Urban accessibility features correlate with rental prices and other urban characteristics.

Abstract

As cities expand, human mobility has become a central focus of urban planning and policy making to make cities more inclusive and sustainable. Initiatives such as the "15-minutes city" have been put in place to shift the attention from monocentric city configurations to polycentric structures, increasing the availability and diversity of local urban amenities. Ultimately they expect to increase local walkability and increase mobility within residential areas. While we know how urban amenities influence human mobility at the city level, little is known about spatial variations in this relationship. Here, we use mobile phone, census, and volunteered geographical data to measure geographic variations in the relationship between origin-destination flows and local urban accessibility in Barcelona. Using a Negative Binomial Geographically Weighted Regression model, we show that, globally, people tend to visit neighborhoods with better access to education and retail. Locally, these and other features change in sign and magnitude through the different neighborhoods of the city in ways that are not explained by administrative boundaries, and that provide deeper insights regarding urban characteristics such as rental prices. In conclusion, our work suggests that the qualities of a 15-minutes city can be measured at scale, delivering actionable insights on the polycentric structure of cities, and how people use and access this structure.