By mining one of the world’s largest databases of telecommunications records, researchers from MIT, Cornell University and University College London divided Great Britain into regions with strong internal information connections but weaker connections to adjacent regions. For the most part, the results mirrored the existing administrative regions, but there were a number of notable exceptions. For example, some parts of Wales had much stronger connections to cities in western England than they did to the rest of Wales, suggesting that in some ways, the historical distinction between England and Wales may be obsolete.

‘The difference between Scotland and Wales is striking,’ said Carlo Ratti, director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab and lead author of the research. ‘Based on our landline data, Scotland is very separated from the rest of Great Britain: just 23.3 per cent of all call time placed or received there goes to or comes from another part of the country. Conversely, Wales, in spite of its unique cultural and linguistic heritage,
is well integrated with its English neighbours to the east.’

The research also identified a new region just west of London centred on high-tech activities.