Cities of a feather flock together: a study on the synchronization of communication between Italian cities

Abstract Due to the rise of communication technologies and economic globalization, modern large cities are becoming more and more interconnected and this phenomenon leads to an increasing synchronization in activities and communication patterns. In our work, we explore the communication synchronizat...

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Main Authors: Lorenzo Candeago, Giulia Bertagnolli, Paolo Bosetti, Michele Vescovi, Francesco Sacco, Bruno Lepri
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2019-05-01
Series:EPJ Data Science
Subjects:
Online Access:http://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjds/s13688-019-0198-4
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author Lorenzo Candeago
Giulia Bertagnolli
Paolo Bosetti
Michele Vescovi
Francesco Sacco
Bruno Lepri
author_facet Lorenzo Candeago
Giulia Bertagnolli
Paolo Bosetti
Michele Vescovi
Francesco Sacco
Bruno Lepri
author_sort Lorenzo Candeago
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Due to the rise of communication technologies and economic globalization, modern large cities are becoming more and more interconnected and this phenomenon leads to an increasing synchronization in activities and communication patterns. In our work, we explore the communication synchronization between 76 Italian cities of different sizes by using mobile phone data. Our results show that both the spatial distance and the size of the city influence the synchronization: larger cities are more similar to larger cities in communication rhythms than medium cities are to medium cities, and medium cities are more similar to medium cities than smaller cities are to smaller cities. Furthermore, for all the cities’ sizes we observe a drift in similarity due to spatial distance. Interestingly, the drift due to distance over similarity is less strong in large cities, that act as gateway nodes for the Italian economical system, hence having an emerging strongly connected and synchronized network, than for medium and small cities, that are more bounded to local industries. Finally, our results also show that highly synchronized cities are richer and more attractive for foreign-born population.
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spelling doaj.art-2151c889048b49c1a700c73305e9657a2022-12-22T02:43:52ZengSpringerOpenEPJ Data Science2193-11272019-05-018111310.1140/epjds/s13688-019-0198-4Cities of a feather flock together: a study on the synchronization of communication between Italian citiesLorenzo Candeago0Giulia Bertagnolli1Paolo Bosetti2Michele Vescovi3Francesco Sacco4Bruno Lepri5Fondazione Bruno KesslerFondazione Bruno KesslerFondazione Bruno KesslerSKIL (Semantic and Knowledge Innovation Lab) Joint Open Lab, TIM—Telecom ItaliaSDA Bocconi School of ManagementFondazione Bruno KesslerAbstract Due to the rise of communication technologies and economic globalization, modern large cities are becoming more and more interconnected and this phenomenon leads to an increasing synchronization in activities and communication patterns. In our work, we explore the communication synchronization between 76 Italian cities of different sizes by using mobile phone data. Our results show that both the spatial distance and the size of the city influence the synchronization: larger cities are more similar to larger cities in communication rhythms than medium cities are to medium cities, and medium cities are more similar to medium cities than smaller cities are to smaller cities. Furthermore, for all the cities’ sizes we observe a drift in similarity due to spatial distance. Interestingly, the drift due to distance over similarity is less strong in large cities, that act as gateway nodes for the Italian economical system, hence having an emerging strongly connected and synchronized network, than for medium and small cities, that are more bounded to local industries. Finally, our results also show that highly synchronized cities are richer and more attractive for foreign-born population.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjds/s13688-019-0198-4Communication synchronizationMobile phone dataComputational social science
spellingShingle Lorenzo Candeago
Giulia Bertagnolli
Paolo Bosetti
Michele Vescovi
Francesco Sacco
Bruno Lepri
Cities of a feather flock together: a study on the synchronization of communication between Italian cities
EPJ Data Science
Communication synchronization
Mobile phone data
Computational social science
title Cities of a feather flock together: a study on the synchronization of communication between Italian cities
title_full Cities of a feather flock together: a study on the synchronization of communication between Italian cities
title_fullStr Cities of a feather flock together: a study on the synchronization of communication between Italian cities
title_full_unstemmed Cities of a feather flock together: a study on the synchronization of communication between Italian cities
title_short Cities of a feather flock together: a study on the synchronization of communication between Italian cities
title_sort cities of a feather flock together a study on the synchronization of communication between italian cities
topic Communication synchronization
Mobile phone data
Computational social science
url http://link.springer.com/article/10.1140/epjds/s13688-019-0198-4
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