Title: Mobility, Segregation, and Inequalities: How experienced income segregation relates to travel behaviour and health inequalities
Speaker: Mr. Yuxuan Zhou (Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong)
Date: Mar 4, 2026 (Wednesday)
Time: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Venue: Room 1010, CLL, Department of Geography, 10/F, The Jockey Club Tower, The University of Hong Kong
Registration Link: https://forms.office.com/r/4WLBeJ73Y5
ITS Student Committee will provide light refreshments and drinks for registered participants.
Abstract: Income segregation is a barrier to social inclusivity and equality. It is affected by individuals’ travel behaviour and socioeconomic contexts and may be intensified by localized living models emphasizing activities within immediate neighbourhoods. However, how the relationship between mobility-based experienced income segregation and travel behaviour varies across neighbourhood social and urban contexts remains unclear. Moreover, income segregation has been widely linked to social inequalities, including health inequalities. Yet most existing studies rely on residential segregation as a static measure of exposure, and rare studies have examined segregation–health relationships using a purely mobility-based approach that captures dynamic, real-world social exposure that may yield more accurate estimates. This seminar introduces two nationwide studies based on large-scale mobility data from the United States. We examine experienced income segregation and its associations with travel behaviour across different neighbourhood social and urban contexts, as well as how experienced segregation relates to income-related health inequalities. We find that longer travel distances and more diverse activity destinations are associated with lower levels of experienced segregation in less affluent neighbourhoods, particularly in less urbanized areas. In addition, higher levels of experienced segregation are associated with more pronounced income-related health disparities. These findings highlight potential trade-offs between localized living models and adverse social consequences and provide implications for how upward mobility, activity-based social mixing may be considered in future efforts to understand and address social inequalities associated with segregation.
Bios: Yuxuan’s research focuses on exploring the complex relationships between the built/social environment, human behaviour, and health outcomes using multi-source spatial big data and advanced spatiotemporal statistical methods. His work lies at the intersection of health geography, GIScience, and urban studies. He has published over ten peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including Nature Communications, Environmental Impact Assessment Review, Social Science & Medicine, and Applied Geography.
