Mapping diversity: from ecology and human geography to urbanism and culture

Abstract

AbstractA large body of research across science and humanities has come to deal with diversity, which, as a scientific concept, has proved immensely relevant in helping researchers understand anything from ecosystems and natural habitats to cities and culture. Here, we develop a first method to quantify and map urban diversity. Our article begins with a concrete example through which we demonstrate how to apply a basic version of our method to create a diversity map for a given urban area. This map is easy to interpret and can be used to accurately locate the most diverse centers of urban activity. We then go on to show how our basic method can be expanded to quantify many different types of urban diversity, and how it can be used to create regional and global diversity maps. Such diversity maps are relevant in both studying diversity and modeling the dynamics of diversification in urban environments. We conclude the article by making a bridge to other scientific disciplines, and by proposing six key steps that may serve as a foundation for a general framework for the evaluation and mapping of diversity across all fields of science.