Did Liberal Lockdown Policies Change Spatial Behaviour in Sweden? Mapping Daily Mobilities in Stockholm Using Mobile Phone Data During COVID-19
Özet
Sweden had the most liberal lockdown policies in Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic. Relying on individual responsibility and behavioural nudges, their efectiveness was questioned from the perspective of others who responded with legal
restrictions on behaviour. In this study, using mobile phone data, we therefore examine daily spatial mobilities in Stockholm to understand how they changed during
the pandemic from their pre-pandemic baseline given this background. The analysis
demonstrates: that mobilities did indeed change but with some variations according
to (a) the residential social composition of places and (b) their locations within the
city; that the changes were long lasting; and that the average fall in spatial mobility across the whole was not caused by everybody moving less but instead by more
people joining the group of those who stayed close to home. It showed, furthermore,
that there were seasonal diferences in spatial behaviour as well as those associated
with major religious or national festivals. The analysis indicates the value of mobile
phone data for spatially fne-grained mobility research but also shows its weaknesses, namely the lack of personal information on important covariates such as age,
gender, and education
