115 Copyright © 2013, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 8 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-1924-1.ch008 INTRODUCTION Urban analysis data sources appear to be increas- ingly inadequate to describe city dynamics and time-dependent variations in intensity of urban spaces usages by temporary populations. In sum we can refer to three issues for which data normally used in urban analysis and planning have significant limitations. A first consideration regards the traditional sources for the analysis of daily mobility, as an information through which it is possible to interpret the daily urban practices. Fabio Manfredini Politecnico di Milano, Italy Paola Pucci Politecnico di Milano, Italy Paolo Tagliolato Politecnico di Milano, Italy Mobile Phone Network Data: New Sources for Urban Studies? ABSTRACT The chapter presents some applications of mobile phone network data analysis to urban studies. At the beginning, through examples on mobility, temporary population, and scale, the reasons are discussed for why urban analysis traditional data sources no longer appear to be adequate to describe contem- porary city dynamics. Afterwards, mobile phone network data is introduced as a potential new source for urban studies, providing evidences and arguments on issues such as large events monitoring, the need of integration of mobile phone traffc data with statistical data and temporary population defnition and analysis. Because of its spatial and temporal resolution, mobile phone data represent an interesting and unique source of information on urban uses variability over time. Telephone traffc can become a valid alternative/complement to traditional methods, being it able to resolve both traditional survey’s limitations of latency (cellular network information can be easily retrieved in real time) and pervasivity (huge diffusion of cell-phones) at once.