Population geography/demography Assignment

Population Geography

Neighborhood/Place Project

Overview

In this project, you will select a neighborhood in Washington, DC or Arlington, or a community in Maryland or other parts of Virginia that is not incorporated as a municipality (city, town, or village). You will identify boundaries for the neighborhood/community, and then use those boundaries to compile statistical data, preferably census data.

The purpose of this project is to gain experience: 1) delineating boundaries for a geographic area (in this case, a neighborhood/community); 2) working with statistical data; and 3) determining how to relate census geography and data to other geographic entities.

How to Approach and Complete the Project

1) Select a neighborhood, community, or place. The neighborhood/community/place you choose must not be an incorporated place on its own (it’s okay to choose a neighborhood within an incorporated place). Since fieldwork is encouraged, it is best to select a neighborhood within Washington, DC, Arlington, or areas in Virginia and Maryland that you can access.

How do you select a neighborhood/community? The best approach is to select a neighborhood or community with which you are already familiar. If you can’t think of any neighborhoods or communities, look at a map or other map that shows neighborhood, communities, and places. Google “Washington, DC neighborhoods” and you’ll find maps and other materials.

2) Defining the spatial extent of the neighborhood/community/place and identifying boundaries. Use of the name of the community in names of businesses, schools, parks, and other features in the landscape offers an excellent visual cue as to the extent of a place. Look for a post office or other public buildings (fire department, police station) bearing the name of the community. Try to identify the core or center of the neighborhood or the densely settled, built-up core of a larger place. Where population density and settlement patterns change from built-up to less densely settled may offer a clue as to where to draw a boundary.

Start by identifying the location of the neighborhood or community on a map. On-line maps, like Mapquest, Bing Maps, GoogleMaps, GoogleEarth, are good sources, particularly since they combine mapped data with imagery.

At some point, you should get out into the field, and walk or drive around the neighborhood/community you’ve selected. Map or note the extent of the use of the community’s name in the landscape on Metro stops, businesses, public buildings, roads, parks, schools, etc. When you reach the point at which the use of the name diminishes or stops, and use of another neighborhood/community name begins to increase, you’ve probably reached the boundary. There will be other visual clues that may mark the extent and boundary of your neighborhood/community:

· changes in housing types, styles, architecture;

· changes in lot sizes or configuration of lots (for instance, grid pattern versus a more open, free-form pattern typical of more recent suburban development)

· changes in density of development

· changes in age of housing and commercial structures.

3) Gathering statistical data for your place. After you’ve identified boundaries, you then need to use those boundaries to acquire statistical data for the neighborhood/community. I suggest gathering Census Bureau data, and specifically data from the 2010 Census or American Community Survey. You will need to identify the census geography that relates to your neighborhood/community. You can do this by using a couple of resources on the Census Bureau’s website:

· TIGERWeb Viewer is an easy-to-use reference mapping tool that makes it easy to view census geography. TIGERWeb Viewer is accessed from the Geography tab on the Census Bureau’s main page, then “Maps and Mapping Resources” then “TIGER Products.” Link to TIGERWeb by launching the TIGERWeb viewer (link is below the how to use video). The url is: http://tigerweb.geo.census.gov/tigerwebmain/tigerweb_main.html . As you zoom to larger scales (greater levels of detail), street features will appear with names, and you’ll be able to identify tract and block numbers. Tract numbers will be up to 6 digits (such as 1, 1.02, 28, 28.03, 6028, or 6069.04). Block numbers are 4 digits (such 4001); the first digit in the block number identifies the block group (so, block 4001 is in block group 4).

· Interactive Population Map: http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/ . The 2010 Census Interactive Population Map provides access to census geography and summary census data. The tool is built on a GoogleMaps base, so it is relatively easy to search by community name and to identify features. You will be able to identify total 2010 Census population for each level of census geography (these data are mapped) as well as retrieve other 2010 Census summary information using the tabs at the top of the map.

· American FactFinder Reference Maps. The link to American FactFinder (AFF) is in the “Data” tab on the Census Bureau’s main page. Click on the link; “Reference Maps” is on the right side of the AFF main page. Use the pull down window to select United States or Maryland (or some other state), then select “Go.”

· Tract and Block Maps available at http://www.census.gov/geo/www/maps/CP_MapProducts.htm . These are grouped by state and county. Locate the map or maps on which your neighborhood/community is located, and then identify the tracts and blocks within your boundaries.

Once you’ve identified the census geographic areas in your neighborhood/community, you are now ready to gather data. Use American FactFinder, the 2010 Census Interactive Population Map, Census Explore, or Social Explorer (or any other on-line mapping/data access tool) to access total population counts and other demographic data. TIGERWeb contains 2010 Census total population and housing unit counts for each geographic entity.

Completing the Assignment: What You Are Required to Provide:

1. A written description of the boundary of your neighborhood, community, or place. List the features that form the boundary you have identified such that someone else could locate the boundary in the field.

2. Explain how you reached your decision regarding the location of the boundary. What factored into your decision? What landscape elements did you use to distinguish your neighborhood/community from adjacent neighborhoods/communities? If questioned on this, how will you defend your decision?

3. Statistical data related to your neighborhood/community. This should include a population count or estimate as well as other demographic data of your choosing.

4. Explain how the census geographic areas used to compile data for your neighborhood/community related to the boundary you defined. Was it a direct relationship? Or, did your boundaries split census blocks, block groups, and/or census tracts? If so, how did you split the demographic data and estimate counts/characteristics for your community?

What to do if your neighborhood/place boundaries do not match census geography boundaries:

If your neighborhood/place boundaries do not match the boundaries of census geographic areas, you have a decision to make:

1) You can adjust the boundary of your neighborhood/place to follow census block and census tract boundaries. This will make data gathering easier, but your neighborhood/place may not be defined as precisely as you would like. If you move your boundaries outward, then you will include population that is not part of your place (this is called “overbounding”). If you pull your boundaries in (“underbounding”), then you exclude population that is associated with your neighborhood/place.

2) You can adjust the data to fit your neighborhood/place. If you choose this option, you’ll need to decide how to “parse” the data. The usual, and easiest method, is to determine how much of a census block’s or census tract’s land area is in your neighborhood/place, and use that proportion to divide the data. For example, if your neighborhood/place boundary splits a block so that 75% of the block’s area is within your neighborhood/place, you would then assume that 75% of the block’s population is within the neighborhood/place. This assumes, however, that population is distributed evenly throughout the block. Knowing the actual distribution of development in your neighborhood/place in relation to the census geographic units (another reason to go out into the field) will help you decide if this simple approach is appropriate. If population is clustered, you might want to parse census data based on other methodologies. Another technique is to take road intersections into account. For example, let’s say the block in question has a number of cul-de-sacs and dead end roads extending into the interior of the block (as is typical in outer suburban and rural areas). Each of these roads will intersect with the roads forming the boundary of the block. If 75% of the block’s area is in your neighborhood/place, but only 25% of the intersections, then you might assume that only 25% of the block’s population is within your neighborhood/place.