Author: Olle Järv

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The MOBI-TWIN project kick-started!

Mobi-Twin logo

 

What is it about

The Horizon Europe funded MOBI-TWIN – Twin transition and changing patterns of spatial mobility: a regional approach – sets out to redefine regional attractiveness in the context of significant global transition processes such as the green and digital transition. The project aims to analyze the changing drivers of spatial mobility and examine the effects of twin transitions on regional attractiveness and human (im)mobility.

The twin transition presents both opportunities and challenges for regions across Europe. As certain areas become more alluring due to the emerging prospects brought forth by the green and digital revolution, others risk being left behind. By utilising advanced information and computer modeling techniques, MOBI-TWIN seeks to comprehensively understand the impact of these changes on different regions of Europe and develop innovative policies that promote balance and inclusivity by harnessing the positive effects of Twin Transition.

A primary focus of MOBI-TWIN is to unravel the underlying factors that influence individuals’ decisions to relocate and how these factors may evolve in response to global changes. By analyzing various types of moves, including permanent relocations, commuting patterns, and temporary stays, the project aims to gain insights into the intricate dynamics and implications for different European regions.

How we do it

Taking a step further, MOBI-TWIN employs a specialised computer model to simulate the potential outcomes of people’s mobility in the face of the Twin Transition. This includes assessing the potential influx of individuals into specific locations, the types of jobs they may acquire, and the subsequent impact on regional populations, social structures, welfare system, and labour markets. By leveraging these findings, MOBI-TWIN aims to propose policies that harness the positive aspects of these changes and maximise the benefits for different areas. Of particular importance is the examination of how the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit have affected freedom of movement between EU regions.

Our objectives

  • UNDERSTAND patterns, drivers, and forms of spatial mobility during Twin Transition.
  • REDEFINE regional attractiveness under the effects of Twin Transition and develop novel typologies of EU regions.
  • ANALYSE the effects of spatial mobility on EU demographics, society, welfare systems and labour market using microsimulation and agent-based modelling.
  • INITIATE an open policy discussion and engage stakeholders and society on the effects of Twin Transition on spatial mobility for addressing regional inequalities across EU regions.
  • MAXIMISE MOBI-TWIN’s impact by disseminating project’s outcomes to a wide audience and engage multiple types of stakeholders.

The role of DGL

At University of Helsinki, the Digital Geography Lab (DGL), based in the Department of Geosciences and Geography, provides expertise on spatial mobility and big data analytics to the project and gives special focus to cross-border regions, multilocal living and remote working. The lab provides understanding on when and where mobility flows from various forms (migration, commuting, temporary mobility) between the EU regions take place and what factors describe the mobility differences over time. The lab is also responsible for creating and managing the complete database of the project and carrying out one of the pilot studies in the North & East Finland (e.g., South Savo). The project from DGL part is led by Olle Järv (PI) and carried out by closely working together with Tuomas Väisänen.

The consortium

The MOBI-TWIN project runs until May 2026 and brings together 9 partners from Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece, Cyprus, and Finland: White Research SRL, Aristotelio Panepistimio Thessalonikis, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Universitat de Barcelona, Helsingin Yliopisto, Fondation Europeenne de la Science, Politecnico di Milano, Erevnitiko Panepistimiako Institouto Periferiakis Anaptixis, Acceligence Ltd.

MOBI-TWIN has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement N° 101094402, with a total budget of 2.91 million euros.

Follow MOBI-TWIN’s journey

Check out the project’s website at www.mobi-twin-project.eu and be updated via Twitter (@MobiTwinProject) and LinkedIn (@mobi-twin-project-heu).

 

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The Digital Geography Lab is an interdisciplinary research team focusing on spatial Big Data analytics for fair and sustainable societies at the University of Helsinki.

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Join our special session at ECTQG’23 in September

Olle Järv (University of Helsinki) and Ate Poorthuis (KU Leuven) organize a special session focusing on how dynamic mobility flows form functioning systems like communities, urban networks and regions at the European Colloquium on Theoretical and Quantitative Geography 2023. The ECTQG’23 takes place 14.–17. September 2023 in Braga, Portugal.

Join us and submit your abstract HERE. Abstract deadline: 15th May 2023. We plan to organize a special issue in a peer-reviewed geographical journal in 2023 and look forward to your contribution on the scope, in addition to our ongoing research in BORDERSPACE project. See our session description, below:

Special Session “From dynamic mobility flows to functional systems: Communities, urban networks, and regions”

The analysis of functional systems through spatial interactions has been a long-standing interest in quantitative geography. While traditional approaches often focused on single cities or countries, limited themselves to specific kinds of mobility (e.g. commuting or migration), or a single point-in-time, new (big) data sources and computational methods have opened up new avenues. By not only providing new insights on temporal rhythms of functional systems, these systems can also be investigated at larger global and cross-country scales, and capture for more heterogeneous types of mobility (e.g. cross-border commuting, multilocal living, recreation and social networks). This can shed new light on, for example, border regions from different countries forming one functional system regarding peoples’ daily practices or the temporal rhythms of urban networks.

Continue reading “Join our special session at ECTQG’23 in September”

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Join our session on cross-border regions at the RSA23 annual conference

Olle Järv together with colleagues from LISER (Luxembourg) organize a special session focusing on cross-border regions from the broad perspective of mobilities & social interactions of people at 2023 RSA Annual Conference Transforming Regions: Policies & Planning for People & Places. The #RSA23 takes place from 14.–17. June 2023 in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Join us and submit your abstract HERE. Abstract deadline extended: Midnight 14th March 2023.

We plan to submit a special issue proposal to a well-established journal depending on the focus of presented studies after the conference. Read session description, below:

SS27: Understanding Cross-Border Regions through the Lens of Mobilities and Social Interactions of People

Session Organisers:

  • Olle Järv, University of Helsinki, Finland
  • Philippe Gerber, LISER, Luxembourg
  • Guillaume Drevon, LISER, Luxembourg

Session Description:

We live in a mobile world and cross country borders for various reasons – migration, tourism, work and education, and seeing family and friends. In addition to migration and tourism, cross-border practices are increasing due to the people whose daily lives are not confined to a fixed territory of one country, including cross-border commuters and people with multi-local living lifestyles between different countries (Gerber 2012; Carling et al. 2021; Järv et al., 2021). These recurring and frequent mobilities crossing country borders for work, shopping, services, and leisure not only affect individuals’ social connectedness and integration (e.g. social networks, well-being and place attachment) across borders, but also contribute to the (re)production of functional transnational spaces – border regions from different countries forming a functioning system.

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Looking for a research assistant

Are you interested in geoinformatics, big data and social media analytics? Are you curious about the phenomena of human mobility, tourism, transnationalism, regional planning and development?         I’m currently looking for a master’s student to work as a research assistant in my project BORDERSPACE at the Digital Geography Lab.

In short, the project studies cross-border mobility flows within the EU and daily practices of cross-border commuters (mobilities and activities across state borders). For this, we are using social media data such as Twitter data (Aagesen et al. 2022; Järv et al. 2022); smartphone tracking data (Järv et al. 2021), and questionnaire survey data. The project seeks to reveal functional cross-border regions based on cross-border practices of people, and how these are influenced by external factors (e.g., COVID-19, war in Ukraine). Also, the topics of transnationalism and multi-local living are in the focus of the project. Geographically, the project focuses preliminarily on the Nordic countries (incl. Finland-Estonia) and the Greater Region of Luxembourg.

The hired assistant would help with various tasks depending on skills and interests: processing and querying (social media) data, managing and developing the database, data analysis and report writing. In general, a successful candidate has fluency in programming (Python or R) and knowledge in automating (spatial) data analysis. Prior experience in handling databases (SQL, PostgreSQL + PostGIS), working with social media data and/or GPS tracking data is an asset.

For those interested, please send me (olle.jarv@helsinki.fi) an email including: 1) your CV; and 2) a one-page cover letter to introduce yourself, your skills and motivation, and whether you would potentially be interested to link this with your Master’s thesis study. The working period can be from January until the end of August 2023, so please indicate when you can start working, during what time period and at which workload (approximate work hours/week). Apply by 22.12.2022 at the latest.

Feel free to ask any further details, and to forward this email to potentially interested candidates at the University of Helsinki.

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The BORDERSPACE project is carried out at the Digital Geography Lab — an interdisciplinary research team focusing on spatial Big Data analytics for fair and sustainable societies at the Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki.

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Digital Geography Lab presented the latest research at Mobile Tartu 2022

It was our honour and pleasure to attend the 8th Mobile Tartu conference organized by the Mobility Lab of the University of Tartu, Estonia. The event was once again scientifically fruitful and socially rewarding — exactly the way how the founder of the conference, the late professor Rein Ahas had envisioned it!

The members of the Digital Geography Lab were well represented in organising PhD workshops, presenting latest research from various projects, chairing sessions and moderating a panel discussion.

 

Olle Järv and Oleksandr Karasov organized a PhD workshop on “Social media sources as a tool to monitor cross-border mobility”, and Christoph Fink and Tuuli Toivonen together with our former group member Age Poom organized a PhD workshop on “Data and tools for environmental exposure assessment during urban mobility”.

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Two new studies on revealing cross-border mobility and border regions

One of the goals of the BORDERSPACE project at the Digital Geography Lab is to examine whether and how social media data such as geo-located Twitter data can reveal cross-border mobility of people and provide new insights for understanding border regions. We demonstrate the feasibility of using Twitter data in two different recently published studies – the first study from the Greater Region of Luxembourg and the second study from the Nordic countries.

 

Study #1: “Revealing mobilities of people to understand cross-border regions: insights from Luxembourg using social media data”

Published in European Planning Studies

Authors: Olle Järv, Håvard W. Aagesen, Tuomas Väisänen & Samuli Massinen

Conceptually, our approach was to make big data small and meaningful by: 1) using a bottom-up concept of activity space (e.g. Järv et al., 2014); 2) using mobility as a tool to capture individual activity spaces; and 3) contextualizing mobility from the border perspective.

Figure 1. The conceptual framework of data collection and data enrichment using the activity space approach to reveal cross-border mobilities and its motives from an individual perspective.

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WE ARE RECRUITING! Looking for a postdoctoral researcher in big data analytics in the area of human mobility and social interactions

Are you interested in studying human mobility and social interactions that take place in the cross-border context, and doing advanced spatial and content analysis using millions of social media posts? If so, consider applying for a postdoc position at the Digital Geography Lab (DGL) to work with Academy Research Fellow Olle Järv from November 2021 (or sooner/later as agreed)!

We are looking for an enthusiastic, innovative, and open-minded team player with strong technical knowledge and skills to join our interdisciplinary DGL research group and work in the Academy of Finland-funded project BORDERSPACE – Tracing Interactions and Mobilities Beyond State Borders: Towards New Transnational Spaces. Continue reading “WE ARE RECRUITING! Looking for a postdoctoral researcher in big data analytics in the area of human mobility and social interactions”

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Warm reflections from the course GEOG-326 on accessibility and human mobility research

Time flies – the course “GEOG-326 Quantitative methods for sustainable land use planning I: Accessibility & mobility analyses“, given by the researchers of the Digital Geography Lab, ended already before Christmas 2020. Yet it’s worthwhile to reflect on it!

It is heart-warming to go through the positive feedback from students regarding the course structure and balance between theory and practice, and constructive suggestions for improving the course.

The course aimed at linking the accessibility and mobility of people to sustainability, well-being and social (in)equality perspectives, exploring the potential of big data analysis approach, and studying the ways of implementing these in planning. We also focused on the impact of global crises on human mobility on the example of COVID-19.

Overall, all 35 students did a great job and received high grades, but most importantly, it was rewarding to see students getting motivated and inspired, and developing their skills and ideas during the course.

The final output of the course was an independent group work that was presented in the form of an academic poster. Me, Elias and Tuuli found the final poster presentation session excellent! Thus, we are delighted to share the posters here 🙂

Check out and get inspired!

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Etsimme tutkijatohtoria tai tohtorikoulutettavaa!

Briefly in English: We are sharing an announcement for a post-doc/PhD student position at Digital Geography Lab and Ruralia Institute. The position benefits from the knowledge of Finnish language and hence is published in Finnish only.

Ja sitten suomeksi:

Kiinnostaako monipaikkaisuus, aluekehitys ja ihmisten liikkuvuus? Haluaisitko tietää, miten erilaisten digitaalisten aineistojen avulla voi monipaikkaisuutta tarkastella tai miten COVID-19 pandemia on vaikuttanut kakkosasuntojen käyttöä Suomessa?

Ruralia-instituutti ja Digital Geography Lab yhteiistyössä hakee tutkijatohtoria/tohtorikoulutettavaa hankkeeseen ”Monipaikkaisen asumisen rytmit”.

Tehtävät käsittävät digitaalisten massa-aineistojen (mm. rakennusten sähkönkäytön, matkapuhelinverkon ja Twitter aineistoja) hallinnointia, prosessointia ja analysointia. Hakijalta edellytetään riittäviä geoinformatiikan taitoja analyysien tekoon, massa-aineistojen käsittelyyn vaativaa osaamista (Python, R, PostgreSQL) ja tilastollista osaamista. Suurteholaskennan kokemus katsotaan eduksi.

Tarkemmat hakuohjeet löytyvät täältä.

Hakuaika päättyy 22.3.2021, ole nopea!

Lisätietoja saa: akatemiatutkija Olle Järv olle.jarv(at)helsinki.fi ja professori Tuuli Toivonen, tuuli.toivonen(at)helsinki.fi

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WE ARE RECRUITING! Doctoral student with an interest in Big Data analytics, human mobility & social interaction

Are you interested in geoinformatics, big data and social media analytics? Are you curious about the phenomena of human mobility, cross-border mobilities and social interactions of people and transnational people? If yes, check this open four-year doctoral student position at the Digital Geography Lab starting from March 2021 or as agreed with the selected applicant!

We are looking for an enthusiastic, innovative, and highly motivated doctoral student with strong technical knowledge and skills to join our interdisciplinary research group Digital Geography Lab and work in the Academy of Finland-funded project BORDERSPACE – Tracing Interactions and Mobilities Beyond State Borders: Towards New Transnational Spaces.

The doctoral project has three objectives. First, to develop methodologies for quantifying human mobility and activity spaces across country borders based on social media data (Twitter). Second, to develop quantitative methodologies for uncovering activity practices of social media users and their feeling of belonging based on the content of their social media posts. Third, to conduct critical research on dynamic cross-border mobility flows derived from big data, integration of transnational people through their cross-border mobilities and social interactions, and how these are influenced by external factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

The successful applicant is expected to have strong fluency in programming (Python or R), experience in advanced spatial analytics and/or social media content analysis, and has worked with big data sources such as mobile phone, smart card and social media data. Prior experience in publishing research in academic journals, participating in research community and having a network of international scholars is an asset.

Read more about the position announcement and apply HERE. The deadline is January 31st 2021.

For further information, please contact Academy Research Fellow Olle Järv, olle.jarv(at)helsinki.fi.