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NEWS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, June 6, 2011
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Steven Romalewski | 212-817-2033 | sromalewski@gc.cuny.edu
THE CHANGING CITY AT THE SWEEP OF YOUR MOUSE:
BLOCK BY BLOCK DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES MAPPED ACROSS NEW YORK
The Center for Urban Research (CUR) at the CUNY Graduate Center today unveiled interactive maps showing block by block demographic changes in the last decade across New York City. (Maps for other cities and urban regions in the US will be available shortly.) At the sweep of the mouse, the maps show the changing racial and ethnic make-up of each block between 2000 and 2010, revealing the rapid changes taking place in the city’s neighborhoods. These changes have important implications for drawing the boundaries of legislative districts, providing social services, and better understanding New York’s status as a “melting pot.” The visuals are accessible at www.urbanresearchmaps.org/plurality .
The maps use the 100 percent count data from the 2000 and 2010 U.S. Censuses at the block level. They reveal that although much of the City’s population continues to live in geographic enclaves dominated by one or another major racial group, with 85% of the blocks having the same predominant racial group in 2010 as in 2000, the intensity and boundaries of these patterns have changed pervasively over the last decade.
In particular, a substantial decrease in the non-Hispanic White and Black populations has been more than offset by large increases in the Asian and Latino populations. Many areas experienced population shifts that either lessened the concentration of the predominant group of 2000 or switched them outright from one group to another. For example:
• The Bedford section of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn – a neighborhood that was 69% Black and 23% Hispanic in 2000 – had the greatest percentage increase in Whites citywide. Whites grew by 633% (an increase of almost 16,000 people), increasing the White share in that neighborhood from 4% in 2000 to just over 25% in 2010;
• Whites also gained substantially in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Central Harlem, Manhattan, growing by more than 400% to increase the White population share from 2% in 2000 to 10% in 2010; and
• in Flushing, Queens – home to a predominantly Asian population – the Asian population grew by 37% (13,469 people) between 2000 and 2010, and the Asian population growth extended beyond Flushing to adjacent communities and out to the Nassau County border.
“With one simple tool, these maps powerfully demonstrate the pattern of changes in the City over the past decade, revealing not only where changes have already taken place, but showing where the momentum of past change is likely to go in the next decade,” noted Steven Romalewski, director of the CUNY Mapping Service at the Center for Urban Research. “They tell many stories, and we invite the public to share their thoughts with us about what they see taking place in their own neighborhoods.”
The Center’s website has two versions of the maps. One shows block-by-block changes for each of the city’s 5 boroughs. The other, at www.urbanresearchmaps.org/comparinator/pluralitymap.htm, allows you to zoom in or out on the entire city and click on the map to extract block-specific Census statistics.
City officials believe that the Census Bureau particularly undercounted New Yorkers in two areas – Southwest Brooklyn and Northwest Queens – and are challenging the population count as a result. Pending any possible change in the numbers as a result, CUR relied on the official counts released by the Census for this analysis.
The Center plans to update its maps and data when the Census Bureau releases more comprehensive data later this year detailing specific Hispanic and Asian groups and age categories block by block across the city. CUR will also add an interactive maps shortly for other cities and urban regions in the US.
The maps and data are available at www.urbanresearchmaps.org/plurality .
About the Center for Urban Research: Working with CUNY Graduate Center faculty and students, the Center for Urban Research (CUR) organizes basic research on the critical issues that face New York and other large cities in the U.S. and abroad, collaborates on applied research with public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and other partners, and holds forums for the media, foundations, community organizations and others about urban research at the Graduate Center and the City University. The CUNY Mapping Service at CUR assists organizations in realizing the geographic and mapping dimensions of their activities. The CUNY Data Service maintains an extensive data archive from the U.S. Census Bureau and other sources and provides customized analysis of these data sets for CUNY researchers, public and nonprofit agencies, community organizations, the media, and business organizations. The Center’s website is www.urbanresearch.org.
Funding for much of the Center's recent work on Census issues has been provided by the Building Resilient Regions Project of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Hagedorn Foundation, as well as support directly from the CUNY Graduate Center and the City University of New York.
About CUNY Graduate Center: The Graduate Center is the doctorate-granting institution of The City University of New York (CUNY). An internationally recognized center for advanced studies and a national model for public doctoral education, the school offers more than thirty doctoral programs, as well as a number of master’s programs. Many of its faculty members are among the world’s leading scholars in their respective fields, and its alumni hold major positions in industry and government, as well as in academia. The Graduate Center is also home to 28 interdisciplinary research centers and institutes focused on areas of compelling social, civic, cultural, and scientific concerns. Located in a landmark Fifth Avenue building, The Graduate Center has become a vital part of New York City’s intellectual and cultural life with its extensive array of public lectures, exhibitions, concerts, and theatrical events. Further information on The Graduate Center and its programs can be found at www.gc.cuny.edu.
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