Telecommunications data show civic dividing lines in major countries

New study uses network data to show communication patterns and divisions in many major nations. Many residents of Britain, Italy, and Belgium imagine there to be a kind of north-south divide in their countries, marking a barrier between different social groups and regional characteristics. Now a new study by MIT researchers reveals that such divides can be seen in the patterns of communication in those countries and others. Tele data in Britain, for instance, show that only about 9.5 percent of cross a line about 100 miles north of London. In Italy, only 7.8 percent of cross a line roughly along the northern border of the Emilio-Romagna region, above which lie the industrial and commercial metropolises of Milan and Turin. These invisible borders, the researchers say, help us grasp the social, civic, and commercial interactions that exist in contemporary nations, and may be of use to government officials and other policy experts. "We are looking at networks to think about how communities are structured over space," says Carlo Ratti, an associate professor in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning, director of MIT's Senseable City Lab, and a co-author of a new paper summarizing the results.