Zooming into mobility to understand cities: A review of mobility-driven urban studies

Abstract

Emerging big datasets about human mobility provide new and powerful ways of studying cities and addressing various urban issues. However, human mobility has usually been defined narrowly in prior research that limits the understanding of its values for urban applications. The aim of this study is to reveal the complexity and multiplicity of human mobility concept for various urban application scenarios, and present a comprehensive review of mobility-driven urban studies through four re-conceptualized urban mobility perspectives. Using a systematic review approach, existing mobility-driven urban studies are classified based on whether they interpret urban mobility as spatial movements, a social phenomenon, an economic indicator or a policy tool. Then, the core values of knowledge about urban mobility for addressing contemporary urban challenges are analyzed, and the current trends and future directions of mobility-driven urban studies are also discussed. Moving forward, the application of urban mobility knowledge can be further advanced by the evolution of mobility concepts, the improvement of mobility data quality and the innovation of mobility analytical methods. This review can contribute to the understanding the state of the art of mobility-driven urban studies, and provide inspiration and guidelines for studies of this area in the future.