Did liberal lockdown policies change spatial behaviour in Sweden? Mapping daily mobilities in Stockholm using mobile phone data during COVID-19

Ian Shuttleworth, Marina Toger, Umut Turk, John Osth*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
16 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Sweden had the most liberal lockdown policies in Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic. Relying on individual responsibility and behavioural nudges, their effectiveness was questioned from the perspective of others who responded with legal restrictions on behaviour. In this study, using mobile phone data, we therefore examine daily spatial mobilities in Stockholm to understand how they changed during the pandemic from their pre-pandemic baseline given this background. The analysis demonstrates: that mobilities did indeed change but with some variations according to (a) the residential social composition of places and (b) their locations within the city; that the changes were long lasting; and that the average fall in spatial mobility across the whole was not caused by everybody moving less but instead by more people joining the group of those who stayed close to home. It showed, furthermore, that there were seasonal differences in spatial behaviour as well as those associated with major religious or national festivals. The analysis indicates the value of mobile phone data for spatially fine-grained mobility research but also shows its weaknesses, namely the lack of personal information on important covariates such as age, gender, and education.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)345-369
Number of pages25
JournalApplied Spatial Analysis and Policy
Volume17
Issue number1
Early online date04 Nov 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Mar 2024

Keywords

  • Big data
  • COVID19
  • Spatial mobility
  • Temporal analysis
  • Urban form

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