Understanding the relationship between neighborhood diversity, disposable household income, and mobility in Barcelona city

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between neighborhood diversity, disposable household income, and mobility patterns to understand how inequalities are reproduced in physical spaces and spatio-temporal routine behavior in Barcelona. The analysis combines mobile phone data with census data on neighborhood diversity and disposable household income. I apply several Spearman Correlation tests, OLS regression methods, tests for heteroskedasticity, and WLS multivariate regressions to test for the relationship of neighborhood diversity, disposable household income and mobility patterns. The results indicate neighborhood diversity alone cannot account for different mobility patterns. However, when disposable income is controlled, the relationship between mobility and neighborhood diversity becomes more apparent. Results show that low-income neighborhoods on average, move out of their residential areas more than high-income neighborhoods. Additionally, among low-income neighborhoods, those that have a higher foreign population have fewer residents who leave their residential areas. Further, residents from diverse low-income neighborhoods travel to less varied destinations. These results confirm the existing literature on mobility and residential mobility and unmask the relationship between both. The study acknowledges the limitations of analyzing Barcelona alone and suggests expanding the analysis to include surrounding municipalities in the metropolitan area. The implications of this research call for further investigation into mobility patterns and how individuals perceive spaces outside their residential areas. The study emphasizes that while differences in mobility patterns are observed, causation cannot be determined solely from this research.