FOCUS

The focus of the FDZ Ruhr is the provision of and research with small-scale regional data. The FDZ Ruhr receives most of this data via cooperation with external providers, such as internet portals or micromarketing companies. At the FDZ Ruhr, the data are checked, georeferenced if necessary, prepared for research and stored with metadata for citation. In addition, the data available with geo-coordinates or on grid level are aggregated to other regional spatial units by the FDZ Ruhr. By aggregating the data to different spatial units, they can then be linked to other data sets.

In addition to the regional data, micro data are provided. These individual and household level data are usually the result of research projects that have been processed within the RWI. Furthermore, FDZ Ruhr supports the researchers in conducting (online) surveys. All data sets are documented using data descriptions and uniquely identified with a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). Weakly anonymized versions of individual data sets can be evaluated by internal and external researchers during a research stay to the data room of the FDZ Ruhr.

The research focus of the FDZ Ruhr is primarily on regional economics. The team members conduct causal analyses on the real estate market, voting behavior, crime, segregation and demographic change. Research here at the FDZ Ruhr overlaps with that of researchers from other department and consequently leads to a close networking of the FDZ researchers. Concrete examples are research on the regional effects of environmental policies, regional dimensions of the labor market and the economics of migration.

Another research focus is the handling of the large data sets available to the FDZ Ruhr. For this reason, methods for handling large data sets are researched, applied and further developed at the FDZ Ruhr. One example is the development of the R-package RcppGreedySetCover, which was used to process the location distribution of emergency centers in cooperation with the Health department.