Plotting Integration

Michael D. M. Bader, American University

American metropolitan neighborhoods have become increasingly diverse over the past four decades. Yet many of the methods upon which researchers rely are more adept at showing segregation rather than integration. One consequence of being unable to visually explore the types of integration is that integrated neighborhoods are typically considered very similar. This paper demonstrates how barycentric plots can be used to demonstrate the diversity of different types of integrated neighborhoods. It provides an intuition for understanding how to read and create barycentric plots to visualize integration and racial change among two, three, and four racial groups. Finally, the paper demonstrates how studies relying on previous methods of classifying neighborhood integration can be visualized through barycentric plots.