4th LxDataLab Meeting highlights the role of data in addressing Lisbon’s urban challenges
The 4th Lisbon Urban Data Lab (LxDataLab) Meeting took place on May 26 at CIUL – Lisbon Urban Information Centre, bringing together researchers, students, municipal staff and academic partners around data analysis applied to the city.
Throughout the meeting, several works developed within the scope of LxDataLab were presented, highlighting the contribution of data science to understanding urban phenomena and supporting public decision-making. The topics addressed focused mainly on the areas of mobility and housing, reflecting current challenges faced by the city of Lisbon.
In the field of mobility, studies on the characterisation and forecasting of patterns in the city’s main intermodal hubs were highlighted, as well as analyses of the relationship between mobility flows and real traffic conditions. These works made it possible to identify usage patterns, levels of congestion and influencing factors, contributing to a more informed management of urban infrastructures. In this context, an ongoing study was also presented, focused on urban logistics, particularly on last-mile deliveries in downtown Lisbon.
In the area of public housing policies, the presented works demonstrated the potential of data analysis to improve the understanding of the social and economic dynamics associated with access to housing. Approaches based on clustering techniques were explored to identify vulnerability profiles, along with analyses of applicants and beneficiaries of municipal programmes, with the aim of contributing to greater efficiency and equity in policy design.
The meeting also featured the presentation of partnership projects, notably the Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) “Smart Cities & Integrated Mobility”, promoted by ISEL within the European U!REKA network and funded by Erasmus+. This initiative brought together students and lecturers from several European institutions. An ongoing research project in the field of smart cities was also presented, focused on developing solutions for monitoring urban crowds through WiFi networks, while ensuring user privacy (MoniCrowd).
Finally, new LxDataLab challenges were presented by the proposing municipal services, related to tsunami risk, urban modelling (digital twins), and environmental monitoring, including air quality and noise.
The 4th LxDataLab Meeting once again highlighted the importance of collaboration between academia and municipal services, fostering innovative approaches to urban data analysis. The sharing of results and experiences can contribute to the development of solutions to support city management and improve citizens’ quality of life.