DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14228377
title: Complete Mobi-Twin Dataset

description: Complete Mobi-Twin Dataset

In a nutshell

The Complete Mobi-Twin dataset is created in the Mobi-Twin (Twin transition and changing patterns of spatial mobility: a regional approach) project funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme (Grant Agreement no. 101094402). 

This dataset combines existing European-level survey and register datasets with publicly available open and big data sources to produce a data product containing information on mobility flows and regional characteristics from Europe. The dataset is at NUTS 2 (Nomenclature of territorial units for statistics) regional level and covers data from 2005 to 2023. The dataset is an outcome of Mobi-Twin research project. 

The complete dataset includes five interlinked sections:

1) Regional characteristics, 

2) Mobility data, 

3) Microsimulation data for five pilot regions, 

4) The Mobi-Twin Survey data,

5) The NUTS 2 spatial layers.

The regional characteristics dataset provides essential information on the NUTS 2 regions in Europe for understanding and redefining regional attractiveness in the twin transition. This data consists of seven themes ranging from variables describing digitalization and environmental characteristics of the regions to socio-economic, demographic, and typological information.

The mobility dataset provides information on mobility flows of the three identified mobility forms – long-term, short-term and circular mobility. The long-term mobility form contains permanent migration and long-term student mobility. The short-term mobility form contains short-term student mobility and seasonal work mobility. The circular mobility form contains long distance commuting, cross-border commuting and multilocal living. The mobility data is extracted from Labour Force Survey data, Twitter data, and Eramus+ mobility data.

Microsimulation dataset provides essential socio-economic and demographic input data for agent-based modelling in the five case study regions of the Mobi-Twin project. The Mobi-Twin Survey data is a final and clean dataset from the survey conducted during the project, including additional geographical and mobility type profiling variables derived from the initial survey questions. The NUTS 2 spatial layer dataset includes all official versions of the NUTS 2 territorial division.

This documentation describes in detail the creation and structure of the dataset. The complete dataset can be updated with newer or corrected data during the project. The complete Mobi-Twin dataset will be made openly available after the project ends.

General Description

The Mobi-Twin dataset is a curated collection of five datasets: regional characteristics, mobility flow data, the Mobi-Twin survey data, input data for agent-based modelling in the five pilot regions of the project, and spatial layers for official versions of NUTS 2 division over time. 

The datasets are interconnected to each other based on the unique NUTS 2 identifier code (ID) and mappable via the spatial layer of NUTS 2 regions in Europe (Figure 1). These data have been collected by the Mobi-Twin partners from various sources and are presented in tabular and spatial formats. The dataset is the main output from data collection performed in the beginning of the project and will provide the input data for analyses done later in the project.

 

Figure 1. The relation between the five sections of the complete Mobi-Twin dataset. Author: Tuomas Väisänen. Full-sized figure HERE.

 

The mobility data section covers seven types of mobility, each of which belongs to one of the three main mobility forms – long-term, short-term, and circular mobility (Section 2). The long-term mobility form covers permanent migration and long-term student mobility types. This mobility form refers to mobility where the individual is staying in the destination region for longer than 12 months. The short-term mobility form covers short-term student mobility and seasonal work mobility types. This mobility form refers to mobility where the individual is staying in the region for a duration between three and 11 months. Finally, the circular mobility form covers mobility where the mobility between origin and destination region is habitual, frequent, and implies a return trip to the origin region. This form contains the following mobility types: long-distance commuting, cross-border commuting, and multilocal living.

The regional characteristics data section of the complete Mobi-Twin dataset provides information on the regions in Europe from 2005 until 2023. These characteristics have been further sectioned into seven themes, that capture different characteristics of these regions. These themes include social fabric, living conditions, economy and labour market, access and connectivity, digitalization, landscape and environment, and finally regional typologies. Each theme includes several variables describing each region throughout the years in the context of the theme. For instance, the social fabric files include variables describing gender balance, population at risk of poverty, income levels and median age of population. The information in the regional characteristics section of the dataset provides essential background information for understanding the mobilities through differences between the receiving and sending regions. To exemplify in the context of the twin transition, student mobility might be better explained by a large difference in the penetration rates of affordable high-speed broadband and mobile internet connections between the regions than climate differences.

The microsimulation data section provides a basic regional information on demographics and employment in the five pilot regions for agent-based modelling (Section 4).  using the NUTS on its third level (NUTS 3). This data is used to model mobility patterns within the five focus NUTS 2 regions of the project:





Spain: Castilla-La Mancha (ES42)




The Netherlands: Groningen (NL11)




Italy: Lombardy (ITC4)




Greece: Central Macedonia (EL52)




Finland: Northern and Eastern Finland (FI1D).



This information consists of tabular data on age/sex structure, marital status, education levels, employment status, and household sizes per NUTS 3 regions that make up the above-mentioned NUTS 2 regions. This data covers the years 2001, 2011, and 2021 where data is available, and some of the years in between depending on data availability per country. Any annual gaps in the data will be filled with interpolation in WP3.

The Mobi-Twin survey data section provides survey data on the populations in the five pilot countries regarding their mobility patterns relating to the twin transition (Section 5). The survey data was collected from the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Finland, but also on a more general level from all over Europe. It contains questions on past, current, and future regions of residence, but also on demographics, employment, and attitudes towards the twin transition. The survey data has been processed by the partners to extract mobilities between NUTS 2 regions, to classify respondents as digital nomads, return migrants and retirement migrants, and to provide weights for the respondents.

The NUTS 2 spatial layer dataset ensures the interoperability of the four Mobi-Twin datasets with each other (Figure 1), and potential outside sources of the data (Section 6). Here, each data record of the dataset is associated with a NUTS unique code. Regional NUTS 2 regional codes enable enriching mobility flow information with regional characteristics of the origin and destination regions, which is essential for modelling the effects of the twin transition on inter-regional mobilities. Spatial NUTS divisions are available on three levels for statistical analyses of different scopes. Mobi-Twin project focuses on the NUTS 2 level, as that is the level where regional policies are applied, and the availability of the data is better compared to the NUTS 3 or LAU (local area unit) levels.

 

Interested to collaborate and use the dataset?

Feel free to reach out to Olle Järv (olle.jarv@helsinki.fi). 

 

How to cite the Complete Mobi-Twin Dataset?

Väisänen, T., Malekzadeh, M., Havusela, M., Inkeröinen, O. & Järv, O. (2024) The Complete Mobi-Twin Dataset. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.14228376