Constantine Kontokosta and Solly Angel
Receive Seed Funding to Study Mobility Patterns and Use of Space
Director of Civic Analytics, Constantine Kontokosta, Director of Urban Expansion, Solly Angel, and Research Scientist Bartosz Bończak have received funding from the NYU CUSP Seed Grant Program for their project, “The Shifting Nature of Work and Its Impact on Space Usage in American Cities,” which will analyze changing levels of building occupancy by modeling mobility behavior between and across urban commercial centers. Their proposal notes the potential for impact:
First, we will develop a rigorous, objective, and transparent measurement of activity in urban commercial areas that can be used by planners and policymakers to develop economic development plans, establish new transportation networks, improve infrastructure investment decisions, and better understand the needs of city residents. Second, we propose a reproducible model that we can use to monitor and predict changes going forward, providing a high-resolution “early warning indicator” for decision-makers to support interventions in response to observed and anticipated shifts in mobility behaviors. Finally, the metrics we propose to develop can be used to study other critical aspects of changing mobility behavior on cities. For instance, how do shifts in the use of [central business districts] influence real estate prices? What are the impacts of new mobility networks on infrastructure use and local needs? What communities are most at-risk from the spatial manifestation of new work and employment structures?