Independent project
Master in Design Engineering Collaborative Design Engineering Studio I
Harvard University
Sep 2018 - Oct 2018
migration dataviz
Identity has become an increasingly complex subject in the contemporary globalized world. How does international migration evolve over time? What are the flows´ main directions and what can we infer from these movements? How does cultural similarity impact mobility? Is identity a motive or a result of migration?
visualizing datasets to understand the link between migration and identity
PROBLEM
This project studies migration at three different scales in order to understand the correlation between identity and migration.
PROCESS
The first phase is a longitudinal study of the international migrant stock as a percentage of the total population from 1990 to 2017 for all countries. Secondly comes an analysis of the total migrant stock at mid-year by origin and destination for 2017 (narrowing down the destinations to european countries). The third phase consists of drawing out an interrelationship between migration in 33 european countries and the cultural similarities tiying them together.
SOLUTION
In order to generate an abstract understanding of this geographical and demographical matter I have used grasshopper and excel to illustrate quantitative data sets (United Nations Migration Data) as well as qualitative subjective data (European Social Survey for Cultural Similarity Index).
THINKING PROCESS
HOW DID INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION EVOLVE OVER TIME?
PHASE 1 - International migrant stock as a percentage of the total population
(Excel, Grasshopper, Rhinoceros, Illustrator, Invision)
WHAT ARE THE FLOWS' MAIN DIRECTION AND WHAT CAN WE INFER FROM THESE MOVEMENTS?
PHASE 2 - Total migrant stock at mid-year by origins and destination (2017)
(Excel, Illustrator, Invision)
HOW DOES CULTURAL SIMILARITY IMPACT MOBILITY?
PHASE 3 - European cultural similarity index in relation to migration (2017)
(Excel, Grasshopper, Rhinoceros, Illustrator, Invision)
THE DATA VISUALIZATIONS
STILLS OF THE VISUALIZATIONS
INTERNATIONAL MIGRANT STOCK AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE TOTAL POPULATION
by major country/area and by date (1990-2017)
TOTAL MIGRANT STOCK AT MID-YEAR BY ORIGIN AND DESTINATION
by major country/area of origin and destination (2017)
EUROPEAN CULTURAL SIMILARITY INDEX IN RELATION TO MIGRATION
by country (2016-2017)
In countries like Russia or Poland, we notice a correlation between similarities and migration but contrary to my initial hypothesis, it is not always the case. This leads me to the following question: Is identity a motive for migration or is it a product of it?
REFERENCES
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Population Division (2017). Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2017 revision (United Nations database, POP/DB/MIG/Stock/Rev.2017)
European Social Survey Cumulative File, ESS 1-7 (2016). Data file edition 1.0. NSD - Norwegian Centre for Research Data, Norway - Data Archive and distributor of ESS data for ESS ERIC. European Social Survey (2016). ESS 1-7, European Social Survey Cumulative File, Study Description. Bergen: NSD - Norwegian Centre for Research Data for ESS ERIC
MC. La Barbera (ed.), Identity and Migration in Europe: Multidisciplinary Perspectives,
International Perspectives on Migration 13, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-10127-9_1
C1-Identity Construction and Transformation in Migration Processes
and other primary research through interviews