A visualization of urban-science research that quantified the concept of “urban diversity” using the biological “species diversity index” and examined its economic impact on urban environments.

Publication Date

January 28, 2022

Project Client

Associate Professor Yuji Yoshimura, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo

Project Description

A web-based outreach piece built around research by Associate Professor Yuji Yoshimura’s group at the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo.

The research quantifies the concept of “urban diversity” using the biological “species diversity index” and examines its economic impact on urban environments; a positive correlation was found between areas of high urban diversity and retail and restaurant sales — a result likely to be widely cited in future work on urban science.

For the content, a 3D map was built from full building-footprint data across Tokyo, with the biodiversity index used as the thematic layer. The city can be explored in either autopilot or interactive modes.

Project Role

Art direction, coding, processing of building and thematic data for delivery.

Related Links

• [University of Tokyo Exhibition — The Potential of Urban Science: The Current State of Science and Technology in the City]
• [Tama Art University Exhibition — Visible × Invisible: Big Data and the Next Generation of Information Representation]