Aggravated social segregation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from crowdsourced mobility data in twelve most populated U.S. metropolitan areas. (June 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Li, Xiao; Huang, Xiao; Li, Dongying; Xu, Yang
• Is Part Of: Sustainable cities and society. Volume 81(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-06
• Subjects: Social segregation -- Mobility homophily -- Social vulnerability -- Smartphone data -- COVID-19; Sustainable urban development -- Periodicals; Sustainable buildings -- Periodicals; Urban ecology (Sociology) -- Periodicals; 307.76
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2022.103869
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2210-6707

Abstract

Highlights: Quantify social segregation based on fine-grained mobility data. Examine social segregation change before and during COVID-19. Twelve most populated U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) are examined. Six of the twelve MSAs show significant increases in their segregation degrees. Abstract: The notion of social segregation refers to the degrees of separation between socially different population groups. Many studies have examined spatial and residential separations among different socioeconomic or racial populations. However, with the advancement of transportation and communication technologies, people's activities and social interactions are no longer limited to their residential areas. Therefore, there is a growing necessity to investigate social segregation from a mobility perspective by analyzing people's mobility patterns. Taking advantage of crowdsourced mobility data derived from 45 million mobile devices, we innovatively quantify social segregation for the twelve most populated U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs). We analyze the mobility patterns between different communities within each MSA to assess their separations for two years. Meanwhile, we particularly explore the dynamics of social segregation impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The results demonstrate that New York and Washington D.C. are the most and least segregated MSA respectively among the twelve MSAs. Since the COVID-19 began, six of the twelve MSAs experienced a statistically significant increase in segregation. This study also shows that, within each MSA, the most and least vulnerable groups of communities are prone to interacting with their similar communities, indicating a higher degree of social segregation.