New Video: Mapping Amsterdam's Social Networks in Amsterdam’s Neighbourhoods

A new video is now available discussing our collaboration with the Municipality of Amsterdam to map the social networks of the city's neighbourhoods. This project aims to provide insights that can inform future policy decisions such as social cohesion and inequality.

National policy often assumes that people can rely on support from their social connections, yet there is limited insight into whether such support is actually present. By using large-scale, anonymised data and network analysis, this collaboration aims to properly map social cohesion across the city.

The research is particularly relevant for Amsterdam, which faces the highest levels of socioeconomic segregation in the Netherlands. Understanding the network patterns within neighbourhoods can help explain phenomena like segregation, inequality, and declining social trust.

The research uses data on formal social ties that are already known and anonymised, such as family relationships, household composition, colleagues, and schoolmates. Together, these ties form an individual’s social environment. Aggregated at the neighbourhood level, this network allows us to identify the social connectivity profile of different areas in Amsterdam.

By combining network insights with additional data sources, the collaboration provides a stronger empirical basis for public debate and for developing more informed, targeted policies. Ultimately, this approach enables the analysis of social structures at scale, at relatively low cost, and offers new ways to understand how social cohesion works in practice.

Watch the video, featuring Eelke and Yuliia, to learn more!