Marta González is a Venezuelan-American physicist and complexity scientist whose research explores the dynamics of human mobility, urban systems, and sustainability through the lens of statistical physics and network science. She is a professor of civil and environmental engineering and city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also serves as associate director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center. González is internationally recognized for pioneering the use of large-scale mobility data to better understand cities and inform public policy.

In this wide-ranging InterDialogue, González reflects on her journey from physics into complexity science and urban research, explaining how statistical physics provides powerful tools for understanding human mobility and the collective dynamics of cities. We discuss the emergence of urban science as an interdisciplinary field, the opportunities and limitations of mobile phone and mobility datasets, and how these data can improve transportation planning, climate adaptation, and the design of more resilient and sustainable cities.

González also explores the challenges of translating scientific research into public policy, including questions of data access, privacy, and collaboration between researchers, governments, and industry. We further examine the future of urban mobility, autonomous vehicles, and clean energy, as well as the importance of international collaboration and expanding scientific capacity across the Global South. Finally, she reflects on the broader promise of complexity science for addressing some of the most pressing social and environmental challenges facing rapidly urbanizing societies.

Timestamps

0:00 – Introduction and Marta González’s path into complexity science

5:01 – From statistical physics to human mobility research

10:18 – Mobile phone data and the emergence of urban science

15:42 – Sustainable cities, climate adaptation, and resilience

20:24 – Privacy, data access, and international collaboration

25:42 – Using complexity science to inform urban policy

29:32 – Measuring the impact of remote work on cities

35:05 – Quantifying sustainability and designing better transportation systems

43:42 – Cities as complex adaptive systems

47:18 – Interdisciplinary research and tackling climate risks

51:26 – The future of cities and urban sustainability