Mapping Gentrification in Washington D.C.
Mapping Gentrification in Washington D.C.
Teaching Guide
Has your neighborhood gentrified?
People often say all of DC has gentrified. It sometimes can feel that way as the city has changed so much in recent years. But, gentrification refers to neighborhoods that were once low-income and disinvested that have seen influxes of high-income people and reinvestment. And, you can measure demographic change as well as reinvestment to assess the extent to which your neighborhood has gentrified. We will walk you through how to do this below.
Find Your Census Tract
First, you need to figure out what census tract you live in.
Go to Census Reporter https://censusreporter.org/
Put your address here:
Click on your address and it will take you to a page that tells you your block group and census tract.
Write down your census tract.
Use Our StoryMaps
Go to www.MappingGentrification.com
Click on the first map, Black Population Decline.
Find your census tract and write down the following indicators:
Percent change since 2000
Percent_Population_in_2000
Percent_Population_in_2018
Note: If your census tract does not have any data, then it has not been gentrified because it was already a middle-class area in 2000. We only included census tracts that were below the median income in 2000 in this map.
Click on the second map, Home Value
Find your census tract and write down the following indicators:
Percent_Change
Value_Year_2000
Value_Year_2018
Click on the third map, Median Household Income
Find your census tract and write down the following indicators:
Percent_Change
Value_Year_2000
Value_Year_2018
Click on the third map, College Degree
Find your census tract and write down the following indicators:
Percent_Change
Value_Year_2000
Value_Year_2018
Now, you have enough data to make an assessment as to whether or not your neighborhood has gentrified. If the percentage Black has decreased, and the home value, median household income, and percentage of people with a college degree have increased, then your neighborhood has gentrified.
Of course, your neighborhood may have changed on some indicators and not others. This is where experts disagree and you can weigh in on which indicators you think are most important for measuring gentrification. You also can take a look at the neighborhood itself and make some assessments.
Explore with Google Maps
Go to Google Maps and put your address in again.
At the bottom right-hand corner, you will see a little yellow person. Drag and drop that person to your address.
Once you are in street view, you can click on the little clock in the upper left-hand corner, and use the time travel feature to see your block in 2007. If you click on it, you can “walk” down your street in 2007 and see if it has changed.
Observe the Parallels with Our Filter
You can use our 3D model AR filter to see if your street showed signs of disinvestment in 2007, and if it shows signs of reinvestment today.
We also have a fuller explanation of each of the indicators you can find in Google Street view in our “neighborhood profiles” section of the www.MappingGentrification.com page.
Click on one of our story maps and scroll down to “Signs of neighborhood change” to see how we measured investment and disinvestment in five different census tracts in Washington, DC.
When you are done, tag us on social media and tell us what you found. You can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook . Use the hashtag #mappinggentrification and/or #IWantDevelopmentNotDisplacement
Links:
https://www.facebook.com/fbcameraeffects/tryit/822244881739854/
https://www.instagram.com/ar/822244881739854/
