I do believe that big/open data help a lot to minimize empirical data collection. We had several studies on how big data help better understand urban structure and dynamics, for example:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259914895_The_Evolution_of_Natural_Cities_from_the_Perspective_of_Location-Based_Social_Media

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/287489085_Spatial_Distribution_of_City_Tweets_and_Their_Densities

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260167281_Zipf%27s_Law_for_All_the_Natural_Cities_around_the_World

Article The Evolution of Natural Cities from the Perspective of Loca...

Article Zipf's Law for All the Natural Cities around the World

Article Spatial Distribution of City Tweets and Their Densities

Hi,

in my experience big/open data are helpful in manging DSS on urban strategies but, the integration with qualitative data from the territory is needed, in order to be more effective.

Dear Prof. Jiang and Ms. Vita, 

Thanks a lot for your kind opinions, suggestions, sharing literature and indication for future research. It is really exciting to see this study results and progress. Hope more and more research in this direction will come in light in near future. I see a lot of scope and possibility to explore some of the application of big data/open data or VGI even for less economical region or identification of best practice. For example, some countries show a lot of success in expansion of mobile phone technology even though there are not enough supply of electricity. The question may ask about - how this massive information can be used for advancement in planning, services delivery and Good governance? However, access to this information may not be open in many case.  

Good to read this one: http://citiespapers.ssrc.org/bringing-social-science-back-in-the-big-data-revolution-and-urban-theory/