Research - Superdiversity | ANU College of Asia & the Pacific

1. Visualizing superdiversity and “seeing” urban socio-economic complexity

Overview: Recent migration has made traditional destination cities so diverse that many conventional social science concepts and methods have become inadequate to the task of understanding complex diversity, or what is now often termed superdiversity. Here, we address the need for new methods of "seeing" urban superdiversity in two ways. First, we highlight the need to understand urban contexts by examining new combinations and intersections of multiple social variables. Second, we demonstrate a suite of new interactive tools. We attempt to enable users to picture, perceive and apprehend complex analyses of multidimensional data on urban diversity in new, more intuitive ways. This visualization draws on multivariate geo-spatial data on different kinds of diversity, across three major destination cities: Sydney, Vancouver, and Auckland. We believe this approach contributes to the theoretical and methodological refinements needed to study contemporary superdiversity in urban settings, and to contribute to better public understanding and policies regarding the processes of urban diversification. Read the full article here.

Authors include Superdiversity Research Australia founding member Professor Alan Gamlen together with Steven Vertovec (lead author),Dan Hiebert and Paul Spoonley.

Figure. Linkage of ethnic and religious identities in Sydney, 2016.

2. Landscape of multiculturalism in Australia: Tracking ethnic diversity and its relation with neighbourhood features in 2001–2021

Overview: Embracing multiculturalism has become an important initiative for enhancing cultural identity, social cohesion, and harmony in many migrant-receiving countries. While a large body of literature has examined ethnic diversity in relation to migration, less attention has been given to tracking changes in ethnic diversity over time and from a spatial perspective. Our study aims to contribute to this gap by examining nationwide ethnic diversity in Australia from 2001 to 2021 at various spatial scales and exploring its relationship with the neighbourhood features of ethnic settlement to provide practical implications for urban planning and design. To measure ethnic diversity, we draw on the five census datasets from 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021 and apply Shannon's diversity index to the smallest census unit, as well as to the levels of capital cities, rural areas, and states. We then employ a machine learning method to model the relationship between ethnic diversity and neighbourhood features of migrants' settlement, including demographic and socioeconomic features and housing characteristics, and to reveal changes in this relationship over time. Our key findings suggest that the level of ethnic diversity dropped during 2006–2011, possibly due to changes in migration policy in Australia, and dropped again during 2016–2021, possibly due to the outbreak of COVID-19. Neighbourhoods with high ethnic diversity are associated with populations that speak English fluently and hold high education degrees, as well as easy access to public transit and affordable housing. Our study provides practical suggestions and implications for migration and settlement policy-making and promoting better social cohesion through urban planning, neighbourhood design, and housing regulation. Read the full, open-source article here.

Authors include: Superdiversity Research Australia founding members Professor Joe Hurley and Associate Professor Chayn Sun, together with Siqin Wang (lead author), Wenhui Cai, Catherine Martin, Shilpi Tewari, Marco Amati, Matt Duckham and Suelynn Choy.

Figure. Spatial pattern of the diversity index for eight capital cities, 2001–2021

3. Expanding Superdiversity in Australian Cities and Regional Towns

Overview: In this research collaboration between ANU researchers and SGS Economics and Planning, we developed a novel methodology and results on expanding “superdiversity” (Vertovec, 2007) across urban Australia as well as how stable (Nyden, Maly, & Lukehart, 1997) this demographic characteristic was between 2011 and 2021. Specifically, the study involved developing a composite measure of superdiversity that integrates different cultural traits, namely country of origin, language spoken at home and religious affiliation. Then, it offers a characterisation of capital cities and some large regional towns based on the extent of superdiversity, measured at the community scale as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Statistical Areas Level 2 (SA2s). Changes to diversity levels were also studied between the National Census periods of 2011 and 2021 to establish whether superdiversity is stable, growing or diminishing across SA2s in Australian cities and towns. Finally, stability of superdiversity is overlayed with the Rental Affordability Index (RAI) and Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey data to explore possible links between neighbourhood-level cultural diversity, housing affordability, and wellbeing outcomes. Overall, the study found that superdiversity is common at moderate to high levels across urban Australia, and that these levels are stable or growing in most communities. While gentrification risks exist in Australian cities based on RAI 2019 data, there were limited areas where at-risk areas coincided with areas where the levels of cultural diversity diminished or grew between 2011 and 2021. This paper offers a detailed explanation of the results and an exploratory discussion about the implications for urban policy in Australia.

Authors include: : Superdiversity Research Australia founding members Professor Helen Sullivan and Dr Hayley Henderson, Dr Marcus Spiller and Kishan Ratnam

Figure. Areas of stable superdiversity and areas at risk of gentrification in Melbourne, Australia