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Globalization typically reduces local differences. Shake Shack in Toronto is a lot like the Shake Shack in Dubai. But does this also apply to the inside of our homes?
This is a question that was recently asked by researchers at the MIT Senseable City Lab. And to answer it, they used AI to analyze over 400,000 interior images across 80 global cities. The images were taken from Airbnb, but they did also do a "robustness check" and pull images from Craigslist, Zillow, Zigbang, and Ohou.
What they discovered was that geography still matters. Local customs persist, and when two cities are close to each other, they tend to share visual similarities — both in terms of the objects that show up and how they look. So much so that their model was able to predict a city with an accuracy of about 45% just by looking at interior photos.
This is somewhat surprising to me as I thought that Airbnb listings might have skewed toward homogeneity. There can also be an Airbnb aesthetic. But local tastes and traditions still exist. For example, the study found that Turkey seems to place a high level of importance on curtains. Big drapery people over there, apparently.
At the same time, globalization is doing things. One of their findings was that cities with high flight volumes tend to exhibit more visual similarities. This says something about the value of physical connectivity. We're, of course, all connected digitally, but apparently that's not the same as getting on a plane and physically being somewhere.
"The same, but different" feels like an accurate description. To download a copy of the study, click here.
Cover photo from the MIT Senseable City Lab
Cycling is good for you. This much is obvious. But what might be some of the lesser known benefits?
Here's a fascinating study (that I discovered through Lloyd Alter's blog), which looked at the association between active travel modes and brain health — specifically dementia risk. For this study, the researchers analyzed nearly 500,000 people in the UK and then tracked them for a median period of 13.1 years. How people got around was classified according to the following groups: non-active (like driving or taking public transit), walking only, mixed-walking, and cycling and mixed-cycling. This latter category is meant to capture people who cycle exclusively and who mix it with other forms of mobility.
Based on this, the researchers uncovered these cycling benefits compared to non-active travel:
19% reduction in all-cause dementia
22% reduction in Alzheimer's disease
40% reduction in young-onset dementia
17% reduction in late-onset dementia
Cycling was by far the best performing category. Why is that? Well, exercise in general is good for brain health. It increases blood flow and oxygenation to the brain, decreases cortisol levels (stress hormone), and reduces anxiety and depression, among many other beneficial things. But perhaps the most important feature for this particular discussion is that it's simultaneously a physical and cognitive activity. In other words, it's exercise, but your brain also has to do a lot of other stuff like balance the bike, avoid obstacles (such as car doors being flung open), and generally navigate an environment with many stimuli.
As a general rule, road pricing isn’t popular. But that’s not because it doesn’t work. The problem is that it works too well, and people don’t like the idea of driving less and paying for roads (that currently have a zero marginal cost).
Here’s a recent study by Robert Bain and Deny Sullivan that looked at just how well it can work. In it, they examine 76 data points from 16 countries, including roads, bridges, tunnels, and cordons (areas).
The question: What happens to demand once the marginal cost of using a road goes from $0 to some cost greater than zero? (As part of this, they also looked at whether the road or bridge in question has viable alternatives.)
The results:
The median traffic reduction was 25%. But the interquartile range was -17% to -44%. This is all very significant. Said differently, the traffic impact in nearly a quarter of the examples was -45% or more. So almost a halving of traffic congestion.
These reductions are obviously a function of the cost of using each road, but regardless, the overarching takeaway remains the same: You may not like or want road pricing, but it totally works.
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