Personal Mobility in Barcelona During the COVID-19 Health Crisis: Analysis at Three Scales

Abstract

The effects on personal mobility by the pandemic caused by COVID-19 are analysed through the monitoring of mobile phones from February to September 2020 at three scales: the integrated metropolitan mobility system, the administratively defined metropolitan area and city municipality. From a temporal perspective, a difference is made between four periods: the days before the state of emergency, during the state of emergency, the lifting of lockdown measures and the so-called “new normality”. Data is analysed in two facets: firstly, in relation to the total number and distances travelled in each journey; and, secondly, with regard to the daily number of journeys undertaken per person. The results show that mobility was generally reduced during the state of emergency, and recovered again afterwards. However, the paper demonstrates that this reduction was spatially heterogeneous and depended on factors such as income levels or the extent of teleworking.