If you want to know which cities in the world are the most multi-cultural and diverse,  look towards cities that attract the largest immigrant populations. According to Worldatlas.com the No. 1 city in the U.S.A. with the most immigrants is Hialeah, Florida where the foreign born population make up 74%. Hialeah is the sixth largest city in Florida.

No. 3 is Fremont, the largest city in Alameda County, California, with over 45% of the population being foreign born, it is a true multi-cultural city. Some 136 languages are spoken at home by children who attend school in Fremont. The largest contingent of immigrants come from Asia but it also has one of the largest concentrations of “Afghan-Americans” in the United States. According to The Mercury News, a new low budget independent movie called “Fremont”, about the life of an Afghan translator who has made Fremont her home after fleeing Afghanistan is currently being filmed in the city, and the City of Fremont itself plays a key character in the story. (Fremont: Film about Afghan translator is being shot in East Bay city (mercurynews.com))

“Afghans” have settled in the Bay area and Fremont since the 1980’s when Soviet Russia invaded Afghanistan in 1979. According the The Mercury News article, “The film is based on research that writer and director Babak Jalali has done about Afghan translators who have come to the United States, Fung said. The area was chosen for filming in part because of its concentration of people of Afghan descent.” Rachael Fung is the producer for the movie.

Cities themselves become records of global events as pockets of immigrants settle in them. In Vancouver you can see the history of the world written in Vancouver’s growth as it welcomed immigrants from all over the world. In Vancouver you can enjoy cuisine from every corner of the world, driving from downtown to Richmond and beyond as the flavors change from neighborhood to neighborhood. 

Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia is one of the oldest multi-cultural cities in the world, all thanks to pilgrimage that attracts Muslims from every corner of the earth, across every continent and culture. Very diverse. In Jeddah you meet every blend of culture that has come together for hundreds of years, many staying and settling and sharing their rich culture from their homelands. 

Berlin in Germany is another melting pot of cultures from every corner of the globe. Berlin has a population in excess of 3,5 million and since the late 1600’s, when Berlin created the Edict of Potsdam to guarantee religious and tax freedom for French Huguenots fleeing France at the time, has welcomed immigrants to make Berlin their home. Then during the 60’s asylum politics in Germany brought in huge waves of immigrants into Berlin. Today Berlin is one of the trendiest cities in Europe to live in because of the diversity of the city with Turkish and Polish immigrants making up the largest portion of the immigrant population and large contingents of “Afghan”, Lebanese and Syrian refugees also making Berlin their homes.

The principal premise of evolution is change over time to fit the environment, and cities that embrace diversity are the cities that will thrive in the future.