Abstract Summary
This presentation explores the concept of diversity as a defining characteristic of cities and suggests that urban spaces tend to undergo cycles of growth and diversification. The research draws on the work of Jane Jacobs, which is expanded into a fully reproducible framework to study urban diversity. As part of our present conference contribution, we discuss our method for quantifying urban diversity and present a case study of the historic quarter Sassi in Matera, Italy, to illustrate how cities naturally evolve through cycles of growth and diversification. Particular interest is given to the role of tourism as part of this process, and a comparison is made with Amsterdam. The research findings show that, since the 1980s, Sassi has become more diverse, in part due to tourism-related activities. However, the rapid expansion of the hotel industry has led to concerns about the loss of diversity in the case of further expansion. We use diversity maps to forecast the potential impact of further hotel expansion on urban diversity, highlighting the delicate balance between growth and diversity in cities. The case of Sassi is compared with a similar analysis in Amsterdam. The contribution relates to the topic “Blueprint for messy cities” because planners and politicians converged to evacuate Sassi in the 1950s, believing it was too much of a 'mess'. Our approach is designed to reveal the qualities that this 'mess' comes with.
