Infrastructure + Mobility
+ Big Data

The Influence of Infrastructure, Mobility, and Big Data
on Social Housing in Los Angeles

Venkat Bathina, Rongtin Jin, Faustin Kapelemba, Mobolaji Olagbaju, Sana Rizwan

Big data refers to the capacity to collect and aggregate massive datasets and similar information this is what is “big” about the phenomenon, as opposed to, well, just data. An exabyte is one billion gigabytes and a gigabyte is about the amount of data it takes to digitally store a feature-length movie.

Volume - The amount of data matters. With big data, you’ll have to process high volumes of low-density, unstructured data. This can be data of unknown value, such as Twitter data feeds, clickstreams on a web page or a mobile app, or sensor-enabled equipment. For some organizations, this might be tens of terabytes of data. For others, it may be hundreds of petabytes.

Velocity - Velocity is the fast rate at which data is received and (perhaps) acted on. Normally, the highest velocity of data streams directly into memory versus being written to disk. Some internet-enabled smart products operate in real time or near real time and will require real-time evaluation and action.

Variety - Variety refers to the many types of data that are available. Traditional data types were structured and fit neatly in a relational database. With the rise of big data, data comes in new unstructured data types. Unstructured and semi-structured data types, such as text, audio, and video, require additional preprocessing to derive meaning and support metadata.

Challenges involving Big Data include: sampling errors (uncertainty), big data requires a researcher to have specific computer skills to access and analyze the data (skills), there is a lack of standardization of methods for collecting and analyzing big data (standard), accessing big data sources is not free (cost).

Sources of Big Data in Los Angeles

Concerns with Big Data in Urban Policies

Brick-and-Mortar Metrics: On a structural level, data quality and integrity poses a basic challenge, as does the perennial risk that policies driven by what can be measured, such as bricks-and-mortar metrics, will inherently misdirect resources away from goals that are less quantifiable, such as policies that reflect the felt experience of people living in communities of concentrated poverty. These are very important core metrics and the fact that the Department has set clear, quantifiable goals around its central mission is commendable. HUD Measures: Nevertheless, these output measures say relatively little about the lives of the people in the housing, or the larger community impacts of the housing investments and other policy interventions, e.g. the production of rental units.

"Each year, an untold number of Americans are evicted or otherwise forced to leave their homes involuntarily. The number is likely in the many millions, but we have no way of gauging even a modestly precise figure for renters, because such data are simply not collected on a national basis or in any systematic way in most localities where evictions take place."

Privacy and Data Security: Everything can be captured in a digital format to create complete datasets that offer a full picture of each individual case by merging e-mails, multi-media (photos, videos, audio recordings), scanned documents and e-forms.

Measurability Privileged Over Meaning: A genuine risk that the very people whose lives should be at the center of affordable housing policy will be even more marginalized than they currently are when measurability is privileged over meaning.

Three mega trends are shaping the mobility market: the rise of connected mobility, the convergence of transport and automotive, and the decline of traditional industries. New entrants and startups are entering the market at a time when traditional players are looking to expand and diversity their footprints. As new forms of mobility become more prevalent, The need for sustainable transportation solutions becomes more critical.

The future of mobility is characterized by a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, better health outcomes, and lower operating costs. These advances are designed to disrupt the ecosystem, but in combination, they should propel unprecedented change. They will allow us to move from a vehicle-centric system to a new ecosystem with a dynamic and efficient consumer base at its heart. Mobility does not appear to be the same across regions. Although some regions have better mobility than others, those with scarce mobility tend to experience limited development. This is because mobility is a key indicator of economic development.

Infrastructure can be broadly defined as a series of systems, facilities, and/or structures that supports the functionality of a household, industry, or institution. Infrastructure can also be classified in a myriad of other ways, including: Hard and Soft; Economic, Institutional, Social, Sustainable, Core. Regardless of the classification, the universal goals of infrastructure building in places remain human development, economic growth & poverty alleviation, safety, travel, climate-proofing, innovation, the accumulation of soft power.