A Geography of indoors for analyzing global ways of living using computer vision

A Geography of indoors for analyzing global ways of living using computer vision | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article A Geography of indoors for analyzing global ways of living using computer vision Martina Mazzarello, Mikita Klimenka, Rohit Sanatani, Javad Eshtiyagh, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4676415/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Globalization is often seen as having a homogenizing effect, reducing pronounced local cultural differences. The kinds of housing people live in are one of the most pronounced expressions of local culture. Our research utilizes a unique dataset of more than 640,000 Airbnb images and employs a visual AI framework to exam- ine the differences and similarities in people’s living spaces across 80 cities. We show that geographic proximity and socio-economic connectivity—measured by air traffic data—are significantly correlated with the visual features of indoor spaces (R = 0.19 to 0.32), with cities closer to each other or having high pas- senger traffic between them also exhibiting high visual similarity. Our results challenge the prevailing notion that cultural homogenization may be overdrawn. Despite the homogenizing influence of globalization, distinctive local styles per- sist in domestic living arrangements. This research highlights the resilience of local identities and cultural distinctions in the face of global pressures. Scientific community and society/Geography Social science/Science, technology and society Imagery Computer Vision Indoor Globalization Domestic Environment Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4676415","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":334934941,"identity":"9fac2499-069b-4550-85c0-80c00896c5f0","order_by":0,"name":"Martina Mazzarello","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAlElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNCCCgYeECVBgpYzDDw8pGlhbGNgIF6L7rTDjz/+nLdNxp6B+eBtHmK0mN1OMzCQ3HYb6DC2ZGsitSQYJBiCtfCYSROpJf3DgcQ5IC3834jVkmPYcLABbAsb0VqKGRuOAbUcZjO2nEOkwzZ//FFz2569vfnhjTfEaEEAZtKUj4JRMApGwSjABwBmQCy7JzER5gAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8777-3927","institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Martina","middleName":"","lastName":"Mazzarello","suffix":""},{"id":334934942,"identity":"1505b7aa-d3a1-4cfd-938d-74f482a9a9d5","order_by":1,"name":"Mikita Klimenka","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mikita","middleName":"","lastName":"Klimenka","suffix":""},{"id":334934943,"identity":"cef247b9-04d5-4f17-beec-2c801f985e6b","order_by":2,"name":"Rohit Sanatani","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rohit","middleName":"","lastName":"Sanatani","suffix":""},{"id":334934944,"identity":"04ba797c-f3f8-4d26-a99a-1d12e6806a40","order_by":3,"name":"Javad Eshtiyagh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Javad","middleName":"","lastName":"Eshtiyagh","suffix":""},{"id":334934945,"identity":"a42190d6-ab6b-42d9-b7e8-aa89ee1d6635","order_by":4,"name":"Yanhua Yao","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2321-8426","institution":"Tsinghua University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yanhua","middleName":"","lastName":"Yao","suffix":""},{"id":334934946,"identity":"706b7bb8-351d-4651-b0e7-6429b8f90643","order_by":5,"name":"Paolo Santi","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8942-8702","institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Paolo","middleName":"","lastName":"Santi","suffix":""},{"id":334934947,"identity":"30c08003-9c7f-48af-bc53-234bd1570667","order_by":6,"name":"Fabio Duarte","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0909-5379","institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Fabio","middleName":"","lastName":"Duarte","suffix":""},{"id":334934948,"identity":"4f613f8c-1723-4b96-bc76-02a7b837c412","order_by":7,"name":"Richard Florida","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Toronto","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Richard","middleName":"","lastName":"Florida","suffix":""},{"id":334934949,"identity":"33b66b6f-9052-44ea-82ce-975ec4633d6e","order_by":8,"name":"Carlo Ratti","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Carlo","middleName":"","lastName":"Ratti","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-02 21:11:03","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4676415/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4676415/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":77922209,"identity":"9b6e7b12-7c90-46ad-8922-5fc5ff16f220","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-03-06 23:08:27","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":4594987,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"20240701geographyvisualAI.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4676415/v1_covered_6dbf6d21-c9d3-4820-8001-f3f939d88859.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"A Geography of indoors for analyzing global ways of living using computer vision","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Imagery, Computer Vision, Indoor, Globalization, Domestic Environment","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4676415/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4676415/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Globalization is often seen as having a homogenizing effect, reducing pronounced local cultural differences. The kinds of housing people live in are one of the most pronounced expressions of local culture. Our research utilizes a unique dataset of more than 640,000 Airbnb images and employs a visual AI framework to exam- ine the differences and similarities in people’s living spaces across 80 cities. We show that geographic proximity and socio-economic connectivity—measured by air traffic data—are significantly correlated with the visual features of indoor spaces (R = 0.19 to 0.32), with cities closer to each other or having high pas- senger traffic between them also exhibiting high visual similarity. Our results challenge the prevailing notion that cultural homogenization may be overdrawn. Despite the homogenizing influence of globalization, distinctive local styles per- sist in domestic living arrangements. This research highlights the resilience of local identities and cultural distinctions in the face of global pressures.","manuscriptTitle":"A Geography of indoors for analyzing global ways of living using computer vision","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-08-05 00:54:58","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4676415/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"b938eeab-1903-48fc-a93c-3d76141f7383","owner":[],"postedDate":"August 5th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":35472766,"name":"Scientific community and society/Geography"},{"id":35472767,"name":"Social science/Science, technology and society"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-04-10T17:08:05+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-08-05 00:54:58","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4676415","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4676415","identity":"rs-4676415","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}