Race_Ethnicity_and_Income_in_Manhattan_-_Zoning_Ordinance

GRADE 11 RACE, INCOME AND STANDARD OF LIVING IN MANHATTAN, NYC Geography Assignment Roxy 5/24/2010 (Using Urban Land Use Models) GEOGRAPHY – RACE, INCOME AND STANDARD OF LIVING IN MANHATTAN, NYC Land Use models are employed with the idea that cities do not grow in a random manner and actually tend to develop distinctive patterns in terms of urban land use as they grow. Urban Land Use models are simplified versions and generalisations of these trends in urban land development and represent the land use functions within a city. Despite this, itis important to note that not every city can be perfectly applied to a given model and several factors may cause it to develop in different ways than a model suggests. The Burgess concentric Ring Model suggests that a city may develop and grow from the Central Business District (CBD) and outwards in what seem to be rings of land use around the city. This would mean hat the oldest part of the city would be at its center- the CBD, and the newest would be on the outer edge of the city. IN addition to this the quality/size of residential housing increases and density of housing decreases as you get further away from the CBD placing higher class residents nearer to the outskirts of a city despite that building height would be at its greatest along with peak land values closer to the CBD. In contrast to this the Hoyt’s Sector Model which was developed further after the development of public transport, suggests that industrial areas develop from the CBD outwards following important transportation lines suggest as major roads or even rivers perhaps. Alongside these industrial districts would be a streak of lower class resProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 ential regions bordered by medium class housing on either side of the industrial sectors and lower class residential sectors. http://www.city-data.com/forum/attachments/city-vs-city/37565d1236574744-new-york-city-vs- toronto-vs-demographics-nyc.png When in comes to Manhattan though, strictly in Chinatown will you find 50-75% dominating Asian population. Amongst them there is a great variety of income levels however the population are evenly spread out amongst this – few families with extremely high nor extremely low incomes (around the 1000s). There are about 4000 – 5000 families that account for each ‘income level’; very low, low, moderate, middle income. The area has what we would call an ‘acceptable’ appearance- not of the highest standards but not unbearable to live in either, there is some trash on the floor and the roads are not in great condition. Apartment blocks however look to be in seemingly good condition, and there are cars of all different ranks and sizes. Greenwich, Chelsea, Turtle bay, The Upper West and East Side you will find a population of 50 – 75% Whites – generally an area with much higher income per family than China Town for example. The income ranges from Greenwich having 10,000 families with a very high income and the Upper East Side with approximately 21,000 families obtaining a very high income. In addition to this very few receive very low or extremely low incomes in this area- generally all districts have approximately 3000 families obtaining this kind of income. We see a clear correlation here between income levels, the majority of white people living in this area and the standard of living here. The roads are almost of excellent quality and the building blocks, obviously well taken care of have a more expensive look to them- we are clearly in the rich side of town with posher buildings, more expensive cars including Lexus’, several sports cars and quite a few Rolls Royces. In addition to this there is practically no trash on the floor, the streets are wider, cleaner and the area generally just looks neater. The next area to explore is around East Harlem, Haven, Highbridge, Morrisania, Riverdale, University and Washington heights. These regions have a 50—75% dominating Hispanic population. These areas all have a significantly large amount of families living off an extremely low income, ranging from the 8000 in East Harlem to the 18000 in Morrisania. Morrisania also only has 600 families living off a high income and East Harlem has 1000; the general maximum in this area. These areas have a very discernable appearance with numerous cheap-looking poor quality and very small shops aligned one after the other in certain streets. There is also a lot of low standard residential apartment block regions surrounded by some greenery and very poor quality roads. Finally we come to Central Harlem and Williamsbridge. Though not located directly near each other, these two areas are probably the second poorest of Manhattan. They both have a dominating population of 75 % blacks and quite a high level of very low incomes; 8500 families in Central Harlem and 6500 in Williamsbridge. The latter having 700 families living off a high income and 1000 families living off it in Harlem. The quality of the roads here were really very bad and there were several parts of the districts with residential focus; small houses or apartments, mostly semi detached when it was housing. However the residential areas looked extremely badly taken care of with paint and materials deteriorating everywhere. It was also a noticeably dirty area with quite a bit of trash on the floor. All this makes it clearer regarding what kind of residents are living where; we can conclude that a vast majority of the population of Manhattan living in luxury are non-hispanic whites. These live in areas such as the Upper West Side and Greenwich. The number of families obtaining high incomes is significantly higher than anywhere else in Manhattan. Following this, we can note that the majority of China Town is logically inhabited by over 75% Asians who live reasonably comfortable with families more or less evenly spread out amongst the different levels of income. Central Harlem and Williamsbridge are two areas dominated by a black population who do not live in great conditions. Their housing is generally of poor quality and their income levels are in general quite low. However, it is the Hispanic population who seems to be living with the least money in Manhattan. 50-75% Hispanics live in areas in and around East Harlem, Haven, Morrisania and etc. They have a huge amount of families with extremely low level income and the quality of their living conditions are visibly very poor. However it is also important to consider other types of sectors apart from residential. There doesn’t seem to be a clear Industrial sector of Manhattan per say, however there are two thin streaks containing more industrial buildings that go close to all types of residential areas, be it high class low class or middle class, but these streaks do tend to occur in between or bordering residential districts rather than straight through them. The first streak occurs along a motorway stretching from the CBD Soho, Chelsea and all the way up past the upper west side and into Harlem and the second line of industry directly follows the coast of Manhattan all the way up to Staten Island. This aspect of the city is very similar to the Hoyt’s Sector model in terms of having Industry sectors reaching out from the CBD however, unlike with the Model, Manhattan doesn’t have its industry bordered by lower class districts. This is perhaps the only really concrete similarity Manhattan has to the Hoyt’s Sector Model, along with the Lower Class Housing being more or less separated into three distinct patches through the city. And it is probably even less similar to the Burgess model. The reason for this however, might simply be due to the way in which Manhattan is shaped- a long island not really wide enough to have concentric circles worth of zoning sectors developing from the CBD. The same can be applied to the Hoyt’s Sector Model which would be difficult to visualise on land shaped like this, with exception perhaps of industrial sectors reaching out from the CBD in strips. Currently, Manhattan’s zoning and land use could be positioned as it is for several reasons. It is clear that the industrial sectors occur along the motorway and along the water because these are major transport systems within the city, important for the removal and receiving of materials for factories. The CBD however, may be tougher to explain however it was probably started in lower Manhattan because of its close proximity to many kind of potential transportation systems such as ferries, trains and cars- meaning all kinds of transportation lines could easily end there. It then becomes logical that the commercial/financial district join on to the CBD and like both our models above, the lower class residential housing be located directly next to the CBD too- people living here don’t have the money for cars or buses into town so they must live as close to the CBD as possible to be near their jobs. The Higher residential area naturally reaches out several neighbourhoods away from the CBD, incorporating those who can afford to drive into town to work.