Urban Networks and Infrastructure

We study cities and infrastructure networks, both in their physical and digital forms, as complex, interconnected systems shaped by human dynamics, exogenous factors, and spatiotemporal structures. By modeling urban systems, our researchers gain a deeper understanding of the causes behind major urban challenges such as segregation, health disparities, and economic development. Meanwhile, modeling critical infrastructures, like telecommunications, shipping, and the internet, helps identify vulnerabilities and interdependencies that affect network performance. Our work supports more sustainable urban planning and the design of resilient infrastructure systems.

Our focus

Urban Intelligence

Transportation Networks

Explore our research

Featured projects

Project website

Oil shipping networks

The global shipping network accounts for over 80% of the world’s trade by volume with crude oil dominating 30% of the market, resulting in one of the most polluting industries. Using four years of data of oil tanker movements, the study identifies global travel patterns of individual ships and shows that efficiency improves with route diversification and smart use of ports, revealing how high-resolution data and novel methods can guide more sustainable shipping strategies.

Urban-Rural Disparities in Mobility Inefficiency

This award winning project analyzes mobility patterns across rural and urban areas in Colombia, India, and Mexico using location-based data. It introduces a novel measure of routing inefficiency to reveal that rural areas face greater travel inefficiencies, especially later in the day. By comparing mobility efficiency with transit accessibility, the study highlights urban-rural disparities, temporal dynamics, and the need for context-specific planning to improve connectivity and promote equitable, sustainable mobility solutions.

Behavioral roots of inequality

Urban segregation is often viewed through a focus on residential neighborhoods, but most of our daily interactions happen throughout the city. This research shows that segregation is largely shaped by personal choices and routines, not just by the neighborhood where we live. By analyzing massive datasets about people’s movements in U.S. cities, we are developing tools to measure economic segregation at the level of public places, workplaces, shopping centers and even at the individual level. These models also support broader applications, including studying disease spread, and crime patterns.