Providing Clues for Urban Innovation.

• Position: GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

The Galapagos Islands remain one of the most biodiverse spots on the planet--with tortoises, finches, and iguanas dotting just 3,000 square miles of land. However, the volcanic archipelago that once inspired naturalist Charles Darwin also is home to nearly 30,000 people, as well as tens of thousands of tourists who visit each year. Those two forces have created a delicate balancing act, and a difficult question--how can residents live and flourish without wrecking the ecosystem that makes their islands so iconic?

University of Chicago (III.) scholars took a step toward figuring out what such a solution might look like, as the school's Institute for Urban Innovation, which produces ways to foster and support sustainable urban development, sent a research team to map the islands' capital city of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno.

The team measured the shape and quality of the buildings using a combination of drone and satellite imagery, which they then converted into 3-D topographical models. They also created a detailed street-view map by strapping a camera to a bicycle helmet, enabling them to cover parts of the town that were inaccessible to cars.

The researchers hope their new map will serve as a baseline for tracking how neighborhoods develop over time. Because...