Robin Lovelace https://robinlovelace.net/posts.html Personal website of Robin Lovelace https://quarto.org/quarto.png Robin Lovelace https://robinlovelace.net/posts.html quarto-1.9.37 Thu, 03 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT Copenhagenize: examining a thesis on urban data science for sustainable mobility and developing bike/research networks https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2025-04-03-copenhagenize/ I spent the last three days in Copenhagen to examine a thesis. I assumed the capital of bike-friendly Denmark and inspiration for the ‘Copenhaganize index’ (which Copenhagen of course leads, with a score of 90.2% as of 2019) would have a lot to offer a transport researcher, and it did not disappoint. For some thoughts, links and photos from the trip, read on!

The reason for the trip was to be part of the committee examining a PhD. This was the second PhD defense (also known as a viva) that I’ve done, and the first outside the UK, so quite a big occasion for me.1 It was also a big occasion for the NERDS group in which the research was based, as it was the first PhD that had been completed in the lab.

The “PhD defense” (also known as the viva) processes vary from country to country and even from university-to-university within the same country (vanteijlingen2022?). In the UK, vivas take place in a “non-public” space, typically with two examiners, one internal (based in the same institution as the student) and the other external (a subject expert from a different institution). In Denmark (and many other countries) the defense happens in public. There are three examiners, one of whom “must be from outside of Denmark, unless this is not practicable considering the subject in question”.

The thesis I examined was Anastassia Vybornova’s, titled “Urban Data Science for Sustainable Mobility”.

As the title suggests, it was a multi-disciplinary thesis, combining elements of data science (including reproducible research and open source software development), network science, transport/mobility, and urban planning. 4 out of the 8 papers focussed on cycle network design, a topic that is right up my street, and something that I could comment on. This focus on cycling: research into active modes is “dwarfed” research into motorised modes, as the thesis rightly points out, and the papers in this thesis help address the imbalance.

I recommend anyone with an interest in the topic to take a read of the papers (see below), you can also download the full PhD Thesis from the website itu.dk. A particular highlight for me was the strength of the introduction that tied all the papers together: each aspect of the thesis’s title Urban Data Science for Sustainable Mobility was discussed and defined upfront, setting the scene for the papers.

I was particularly struck by the discussion of data science, something that I often take for granted. Data science is defined in the thesis succinctly and correctly as “learning from data”. One thing that I learned from the thesis was that the term “data science” was popularised in a article outlining how the term began to be used in a commercial context, for example “to optimize the service contracts and maintenance intervals for industrial products” according to one example from this highly-cited (and seemingly seminal) article (davenport2012?).

This early commercial focus (or even its reason for existing) may come as a surprise given how prominent the term is in academic and public-sector research: data science is now taught as an academic subject in many if not most universities, and several academic journals bear its name. There are even job titles such as my job as Professor of Transport Data Science. Contemporary usage emphasise computational and data-driven techniques while perhaps glossing-over the term’s commercial origins. That’s not to imply that data science is bad, but the history of the term suggests that it could benefit from being reclaimed, as stated in this apt quote from the [thesis]:

The challenge therefore lies in repurposing digital tools and methods, putting them into service of a sustainable mobility shift instead.

The contents of the thesis ‘walk the walk’ by tackling the challenge head-on, producing important methodological and empirical contributions — plus some valuable open source software packages and reproducible code that future work can build on — in the process.

The thesis is composed of the following papers:

  1. Paper 1: “A shape-based heuristic for the detection of urban block artifacts in street networks” (fleischmann2024?)
  2. Paper 2: “BikeDNA: A tool for bicycle infrastructure data and network assessment” (vierø2024?)
  3. Paper 3: “How Good Is Open Bicycle Network Data? A Countrywide Case Study of Denmark” (vierø2025?)
  4. Paper 4: “You Don’t Have to Live Next to Me: Towards a Demobilization of Individualistic Bias in Computational Approaches to Urban Segregation” (vybornova2024?)
  5. Paper 5: “Automated Detection of Missing Links in Bicycle Networks” (vybornova2022?)
  6. Paper 6: “BikeNodePlanner: a data-driven decision support tool for bicycle node network planning” (vybornova?)
  7. Paper 7: “superblockify: A Python Package for Automated Generation, Visualization, and Analysis of Potential Superblocks in Cities” (büth2024?)
  8. Paper 8: “Urban highways are barriers to social ties” (aiello?)

That is a lot of ground covered in a single PhD and testament to the collaborative teamwork in action in the NERDS lab. After an excellent presentation providing an overview of the work, and ideas that held the papers listed above together into a cohesive whole, there was an in-depth discussion in which the others on the committee and I asked many questions and got detailed answers. Happy to say: Anastassia passed with flying colours 🎉

Meal in Copenhagen

Meal with Anastassia, PhD supervisor Michael, and the 3/2rds of the examination committee to celebrate

The city

The city of Copenhagen is beautiful, child-friendly and highly conducive to active travel, things that are enabled by comparatively low (but still harmful) levels of car ownership and driving in city. There are entire books on the topic that I cannot do justice to here, so I will just share some photos I took during the trip.

Photo of Manchester from the train to the airport on the way to Copenhagen, highlighting the fact that there is great potential to ‘copenhagenize’ and make existing cities more livable. Small interventions like providing clearly demarcated space for cycling and narrowing the carriageway that has low levels of traffic could help.

Illustration of “edge lane roads” implemented on a growing number of residential roads in Denmark, providing a cost-effective way of creating space for cycling while reducing vehicle speeds (note the lack of a centreline, encouraging safe driving). Source, the Cycling Embassy of Denmark website.

Another photo of central Manchester from the train on the way to the airport. This image shows that there are some very livable and beautiful spaces in the UK, a major issue being the lack of safe active travel routes between them.

The plane that took me to Copenhagen. There is a tension between the benefits of international links which can grow with in-person meetings and the benefits of reducing travel demand, highlighted by the “No Fly Climate Sci” movement and the article “Could you give up flying? Meet the no-plane pioneers”.

The first bit of cycle infrastructure I came across on the walk from the metro station to Zoku, the place I was staying. This infrastructure is not really good from a utilitarian perspective but it’s good from a fun perspective, highlighting the fact that infrastructure should be fun and child-friendly in places.

The first view I got of the rush hour, from a run on my first day in Copenhagen. Note: cycles outnumber cars by around 3:1. I suspect that that modal split is about right for many roads in central Copenhagen.

The main building of the IT University of Copenhagen where the research and defense took place.

The view from an office in ITU.

Anastassia in action during the presentation of the thesis

A typical arterial road in Denmark. Note: the amount of space taken by private motorised modes is greater than the amount of space dedicated for active travel. This suggests that there is room for improvement for active travel provision and quick wins even in cities with active travel levels that are high compared with most cities worldwide but which still have a high level of car ownership and use in absolute terms.

One of many bridges for active travel in Copenhagen. Note the width of the paths and space enabling high levels of cycle and foot traffic. It is a beautiful site to behold.

Another car-free bridge, highlighting the scale of active travel infrastructure and investment for a joined-up network.

The Copenhagen skyline

An example of clear separation between cycling and walking modes.

Central Copenhagen, highlighting the high throughflow of pedestrians and cyclists enabled by space allocation policies, and the fact that there are bike parking spaces everywhere in the city.

Overall it was an inspiring trip. There are many research ideas brewing, and I look forward to putting some of them into thought, words, code and action over the coming months. I would love to learn more about how Copenhagen and other cities with high percentages of trips made by active modes got there so feel free to get in touch on that. If you’re interested in any of the code underlying Anastassia’s thesis, check out the NERDSITU GitHub organisation.

More could be said on the research and city sides, I would love to create a photo map of my trip, but that can wait for another day.

Footnotes

  1. I was a reviewer of a thesis by Christian Werner on “Integrated geospatial network assessment for planning support in cycling mobility” but was not part of the defense committee. The first PhD thesis I examined was “Rethinking streets: a study of streetspace allocation metrics and street networks in London” by Nicolas Palominos.↩︎

]]> https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2025-04-03-copenhagenize/ Thu, 03 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT Looking back on 2024 and forward to 2025 https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2025-01-03-2024-retrospective/ In this post I look back on 2024 and forward to 2025.

Work in 2024

I completed my two-year contract at Active Travel England where I was Director of Data and Analysis. I got a promotion to Professor, and from January 2025 am back to a single full-time job at the University of Leeds.

Key achievements at Active Travel England:

  • Set up a grant funding agreement between ATE and the Alan Turing Institute
  • Instigated the ATIP project (plan.activetravelengland.gov.uk)
  • The SchoolRoutes project for identifying school routes for active travel investment

Academic highlights

  • Two books with CRC Press (published in 2025):
    • Geocomputation with R (second edition)
    • Geocomputation with Python
  • Keynote at Mobile Tartu conference
  • CRUSE project published (cruse.bike)
  • Biclar web application for Lisbon

Open source contributions

  • od2net R interface for route network generation
  • spanishoddata R package for Spanish OD data
  • parenx Python package for network simplification
  • Contributions to anime package for linestring matching

Community projects

  • Bike Fix Sunday: Community bike repair project (150 members)
  • Chapeltown Cohousing: Got a shared electric cargo bike
  • Oaty Cortado run club: Weekly runs with mates

Personal update

I became a father again! Baby girl Rosa was born on November 12th, 2024. Big brother Kit is being excellent.

Looking forward to 2025!

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2025-01-03-2024-retrospective/ Fri, 03 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT The Pathway to Professorship https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2024-07-23-professorship/ I am delighted to announce that I have been appointed to a Professorship at the University of Leeds. A small change in my job title (just removing the first word of my previous job title “Associate Professor of Transport Data Science”) means a lot for my career.

This post is a reflection on the path that got me here, provides some insight into the promotion system in the UK, outlines some of the work that I’m most proud of, and provides a chance to say thank you to the many people who have inspired and supported me along the way.

My career path

I didn’t set out to work in academia and certainly didn’t plan to become a professor. Although my career has been mostly in higher education, I think it is a little unusual in the way I’ve got there, with a big focus on impact and practical skills, rather than research outputs, administrative roles and memberships of committees and boards.

  • 1990-2002: Attended Weobley High School and Weobley Primary in Herefordshire
  • 2002-2004: A-levels at Hereford Sixth Form College (Maths, Geography, Psychology)
  • 2004-2008: Geography at University of Bristol, School of Geographical Sciences
  • 2008-2009: MSc Environmental Science and Management, University of York
  • 2009-2013: PhD at University of Sheffield (EPSRC-funded E-Futures Doctoral Training Centre)
  • 2013-2014: Research Fellow, NCRM funded TALISMAN project, University of Leeds
  • 2014-2016: Research Fellow in Data Analytics, University of Leeds
  • 2016-2019: University Academic Fellow in Transport and Big Data, ITS Leeds
  • 2019-2024: Associate Professor of Transport Data Science (part time since 2023)
  • 2023-2024: Part time role at Active Travel England (Civil Service)
  • 2024 onwards: Professor of Transport Data Science at University of Leeds

The promotion process

In the UK higher education system, promotions take place through a formal process based on a set of criteria. There are three pathways:

  • Student Education
  • Research & Innovation
  • Academic Leadership

As someone focused on research and innovation, I applied for the Research & Innovation pathway.

Key publications

My portfolio included 10 key publications demonstrating impact:

  1. Propensity to Cycle Tool REF Impact Case Study (2023) - Four-star level of impact
  2. The Propensity to Cycle Tool (2017) - JTLU, major impact on transport planning internationally
  3. Geocomputation with R (2019) - CRC Press, widely adopted in university courses
  4. From Big Noise to Big Data (2016) - Geographical Analysis
  5. Stplanr (2018) - R Journal, downloaded 153k+ times
  6. Open Source Tools for Geographic Analysis (2021) - Journal of Geographical Systems
  7. Open Access Transport Models (2020) - Transport Policy
  8. Methods to Prioritise Pop-up Active Transport Infrastructure (2020) - Transport Findings
  9. ClockBoard (2022) - Journal of Spatial Information Science
  10. London Cycle Hire Scheme (2020) - Transportation Research Part A

Portfolio highlights

  • 60+ academic publications, 2,450+ citations, H-index of 27
  • Led REF Impact Case Study on cycle network planning
  • Developed tools used by 50k+ people per year
  • International impact: PCT adapted for Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, New Zealand

Reflections

I was surprised at the extent to which it’s up to the promotion candidate to ask about or lobby for promotion. My message to people who are doing great work but not sure if they should apply for promotion is: go for it, you’re worth it!

Thanks to all the colleagues, students, collaborators, and family who have supported me on this journey.

]]> https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2024-07-23-professorship/ Wed, 24 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT Mobile Tartu 2024 https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2024-06-15-tartu2024/ I gave a keynote presentation at Mobile Tartu 2024 on Future-Proof Transport Planning.

PhD School

The conference started with a PhD School, which was a great opportunity to engage with early-career researchers.

Keynote: Future-Proof Transport Planning

My talk focused on the need for transport planning to adapt to changing circumstances, drawing on experience from the COVID-19 pandemic and the urgent need to decarbonise transport systems.

Key themes included: - The importance of open source tools in transport planning - Data-driven approaches to active travel - Reproducible research methods - International collaboration in transport research

Conference highlights

The conference brought together researchers from around the world to discuss: - Accessibility metrics and methods - Mobility patterns and behaviour - Transport modelling and simulation - Active travel research

Thanks to the organisers for a great event!

]]> event https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2024-06-15-tartu2024/ Sat, 15 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT Geocomputation with R book https://robinlovelace.net/ Open source book on geographic data analysis news https://robinlovelace.net/ Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT Reflections on 2023 https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2023-12-31-new-year-reflections/ Like last year’s reflections post, I’m going to keep this one short and use it as a chance to reflect on what I’ve been up to over the last 12 months, what I’ve been working on, research I’ve contributed to, and hopes for next year.

Research highlights

This year saw continued work on: - Active travel safety: Contributing to the SaferActive project - Open transport tools: Continued development of the Propensity to Cycle Tool - Transport data science: Teaching and developing the MSc module at Leeds

Publications

Key publications in 2023 included work on: - Spatial analysis methods for transport - Open source software for geographic data - Active travel infrastructure planning

Looking ahead to 2024

Next year I hope to: - Continue growing the Transport Data Science teaching - Publish more open source tools - Engage with international collaborators - Progress research on cycling infrastructure prioritisation

Happy new year!

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2023-12-31-new-year-reflections/ Sun, 31 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT Propensity to Cycle Tool https://robinlovelace.net/ Open source online tool for cycling potential modeling news https://robinlovelace.net/ Thu, 01 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT Setting up Ubuntu for Geocomputation https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2023-04-11-setting-up-ubuntu-geocomputation/ I recently got a new laptop and set it up with Ubuntu for spatial data analysis. Here’s my approach.

Why Ubuntu?

  • Free and open source
  • Excellent for R and Python development
  • Great support for spatial packages
  • Reliable and fast

Key steps

  1. Install Ubuntu (I use LTS versions)
  2. Install R and RStudio
  3. Add spatial packages: sf, terra, igraph
  4. Set up Python with conda/mamba
  5. Install QGIS for visualization

Resources

See my install-geocomp-ubuntu repo for detailed setup scripts.

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2023-04-11-setting-up-ubuntu-geocomputation/ Tue, 11 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT SaferActive Project https://robinlovelace.net/ Improving safety for active travel through data-driven approaches news https://robinlovelace.net/ Sat, 01 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT Reflections on 2022 https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2022-12-30-2022-reflections/ A brief reflection on 2022, a year of growth and transition.

Personal highlights

  • Became a father (mentioned in tags!)
  • Continued work at University of Leeds
  • Started part-time role in Civil Service

Work highlights

  • Progress on the Propensity to Cycle Tool
  • Transport Data Science module going well
  • Open source software development

Looking forward

Hope for more balance between work and personal life, continuing to grow as a researcher and teacher.

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2022-12-30-2022-reflections/ Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT Setting up Mastodon: an appropriate social media platform for the 2020s https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2022-11-05-mastodon/ I’ve moved from Twitter to Mastodon. Here’s why and how.

Why Mastodon?

Twitter has become increasingly toxic and unreliable. Mastodon is: - Open source: No single company controls it - Decentralized: No algorithmic manipulation - Community-run: No advertising or tracking - Better for the planet: Lower environmental impact

Getting started

  1. Choose an instance (I use fosstodon.org for tech/science)
  2. Create an account
  3. Follow people and join conversations
  4. Use the hashtag #OpenScience to find researchers

My experience

I’ve found the Mastodon community to be more supportive and constructive than other platforms. It’s a breath of fresh air to be in an environment focused on sharing knowledge rather than engagement metrics.

The transition wasn’t instantaneous but has been rewarding. I now have connections across academia, open source, and the cycling community that wouldn’t have happened on traditional social media.

Come find me at: (robinlovelace?)(fosstodon.org?)

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2022-11-05-mastodon/ Sat, 05 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT Reflections on 2021 https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2022-01-01-2021-reflections/ It’s been another crazy year for many people with lifestyles still disrupted by COVID. But it’s been an amazing year for me and my family.

Highlights

  • First solo-authored paper: Published “Open source tools for geographic analysis in transport planning” in the Journal of Geographical Systems
  • 10DS Fellowship: Awarded an 18 month fellowship to work with the No. 10 Data Science team
  • Became a dad: The most rewarding event of my life!

Academic output

5 peer-reviewed papers in 2021, including solo-authored work on open source transport planning tools.

Looking ahead to 2022

More policy-relevant research, continuing the 10DS fellowship work, and enjoying fatherhood!

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2022-01-01-2021-reflections/ Sat, 01 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT Open access events on data science in transport https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2021-12-03-open-access-events/ A couple of events where I and colleagues presented on building tools for evidence-based decision making:

  1. Evidence to Support Active Travel in the Planning System - LSSI and Department for Transport, June 2021
  2. Propensity to Cycle Tool Advanced Training Workshop - December 2021

These events covered topics in data science skills for transport planning and using tools like the PCT for evidence-based planning.

]]> event https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2021-12-03-open-access-events/ Fri, 03 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT Making a reproducible website with blogdown in 2021 https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2021-01-03-making-a-reproducible-website-with-blogdown-in-2021/ For people interested in how I set this site up, see the changes tracked on GitHub to transition to the new site: https://github.com/rbind/robinlovelace/pull/5

This site was built using blogdown and Hugo. The key benefits are: - Fully reproducible - Version controlled - Free hosting on Netlify/GitHub Pages - R Markdown support

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2021-01-03-making-a-reproducible-website-with-blogdown-in-2021/ Sun, 03 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT Evidence to prioritise pop-up cycleways https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2020-05-26-evidence-to-prioritise-pop-up-cycleways/ I gave a talk at the ‘Ideas with Beers’ seminar series on evidence to prioritise pop-up cycleways.

Context

During COVID-19, there was urgent need for evidence to support rapid deployment of cycling infrastructure. The talk covered:

  • Methods for identifying priority routes
  • Using open data for quick analysis
  • Case studies from the UK

Key message

Pop-up cycleways can be implemented quickly and cheaply using evidence-based approaches. The Propensity to Cycle Tool methodology was adapted to support this work.

This led to the development of tools used by local authorities across the UK.

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2020-05-26-evidence-to-prioritise-pop-up-cycleways/ Tue, 26 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT Six great things about UseR! 2019 https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2019-07-13-great-things-user2019/ UseR! is the most popular annual meeting for R enthusiasts. UseR! 2019 was held in Toulouse, France.

Key highlights

  1. Community: Huge, friendly community of R users
  2. Tutorials: Excellent workshops on topics from Shiny to tidyverse
  3. Keynotes: Inspiring talks from RStudio and academia
  4. Networking: Met people from diverse backgrounds
  5. Packages: Saw the latest developments in R packages
  6. Location: Toulouse was a great host city

It was my first UseR! conference and definitely won’t be the last.

]]> event https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2019-07-13-great-things-user2019/ Sat, 13 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT stplanr paper published https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2019-02-25-stplanr-paper-published/ I am very happy to announce that the paper stplanr: A package for transport planning has been published in The R Journal!

This is the result of around 3 years of work with co-author Richard Ellison. The stplanr package was first released on CRAN in November 2015 and has been downloaded over 150,000 times.

The paper describes the key functions for transport planning including: - Origin-destination analysis - Route finding - Network analysis - Spatial aggregation

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2019-02-25-stplanr-paper-published/ Mon, 25 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT Aggregating lines, Part I https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2018-10-27-aggregating-lines/ Part I of a series on aggregating lines in R for transport planning.

Overview

When working with route networks, you often need to aggregate multiple lines into single segments. This is useful for: - Calculating summary statistics - Visualizing flows - Simplifying networks

The stplanr package provides functions for this, particularly overline() which aggregates lines by geography.

See also Part II for more advanced techniques.

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2018-10-27-aggregating-lines/ Sat, 27 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT Switching to blogdown https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2017-04-30-switching-to-blogdown/ I’ve finally got a new blog post, to test that my new set-up is working, using the wonderful blogdown package.

This allows R code to be embedded directly in blog posts, making it perfect for data science and research blogging.

The transition from oldWordPress to blogdown was smooth and I haven’t looked back since!

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2017-04-30-switching-to-blogdown/ Sun, 30 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT CycleStreets.net in the Propensity to Cycle Tool https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2016-12-21-cyclestreets-pct/ After 2 years in the making, the paper describing the Propensity to Cycle Tool (PCT) was published in the Journal of Transport and Land Use.

The PCT is an online tool for helping decide where to prioritise cycling policies such as new cycle paths. It lives at http://www.pct.bike

The PCT would not have been possible without CycleStreets.net, so this article serves as a big Thank You to them.

Key points

  • Uses Census origin-destination data
  • Provides scenarios for cycling potential
  • Routes generated by CycleStreets.net
  • Free and open source

The tool has been used by local authorities across the UK to plan cycling infrastructure.

]]> news https://robinlovelace.net/posts/2016-12-21-cyclestreets-pct/ Wed, 21 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT