Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed human mobility patterns in cities. Lockdowns, social distancing and flexible working hours have restructured pre-existing dynamics between two opposing forces in major cities: centripetal and centrifugal. To scrutinise the new dynamics, human mobility in the Seoul Metropolitan Area in early 2020 was investigated using big data collected from cell phone activity. By suggesting a network-based approach to untangle complex human mobility in the urban network, this research contributes to understanding how the COVID-19 shock impacted human mobility patterns in everyday life and how human behaviours adapted to the new normal.