When Internet Became Geography. Spatial patterns on urban open spaces through the analysis of user-generated data in Barcelona

The main objective that motivates the paper concerns the study on user-generated data (UGD) for exploring new methodologies that could support and improve the understanding of spatial patterns for urban planning and design of open spaces in urban areas. This paper aims at taking a step forward from current literature, providing on the one hand a method for social science analysis and, on the other hand, expecting to motivate the possible outcomes of user-generated data coming from two ICT platforms into policy driving strategies in order to improve quality of life. In order to do so, this paper examines UGD coming from social network platforms and apps to provide a visual and scientific exploration of the resulting spatial pattern, specifically of locals, visitors and tourists which have used two urban open spaces (UOS) in Barcelona, Enric Granados Street and Forum. In addition, for the purpose of analysis, the spatial patterns have been discriminated by language to study the further insides of how diverse groups of population construct different spatial patterns given by their preferences in visiting a city.