Plot of neighborhoods (Cincinnati, Avon, Deer Park: houses, safe neighborhood, magnet schools)

[progmac]

I was thinking about the common 'where to live' questions people moving to Cincinnati from either the suburbs or outside the region tend to have. I plotted some of the more-talked about neighborhoods as a quick overview. Disclaimer: there are a lot more to most of these neighborhoods than can be explained by this certainly error-rich, back-of-the-napkin plot. Also, my apologies if I forgot to include your neighborhood. This is fewer than half of all Cincy 'hoods.

[Chemistry_Guy]

I love the idea, but then again I am an analytical chemist that interprets piles of data every day.

However, I do think that safety and affordability should be orthogonal variables rather than placed on the same axis. For example, I would say that Deer Park is both safer and more affordable than downtown. The problem with this is that you run out of dimensions in your plot very quickly.

Here's my plot. It's not perfect and the neighborhoods are arbitrary (most of them places I have lived or worked).


It would be bonus points if you could make a topographical map superimposed over this where the contour lines are price/sq ft of houses... unfortunately I don't have time to even try.

[t45209]

Hard to paint some neighborhoods with such a broad brush, Walnut Hills being an example. Some areas of Walnut Hills would put you to sleep in terms of safety concerns, yet you have it as far east almost as Avondale. Also, how does Gaslight score higher on nightlife than Oakley? I guess that's the weakness of a compass point plot, when you are trying to juxtapose things like safety and affordability on the same axis.

[progmac]

your plot is intriguing, chem guy - maybe i'm not getting it, but wouldn't this say that a perfectly safe neighborhood doesn't have nightlife or affordability?

regarding my first plot, you are right - the axes are certainly not perfect and in many cases creates false dichotomies. neighborhoods that have definite good areas and bad areas (walnut hills) get particularly slighted; and the deer park comment was on point - some places are more safe and more affordable than others.

other elements that are ignored - walkability, proximity to CBD, schools, and certainly many more.

ultimately, i am trying to think of a way to describe a wide swath of neighborhoods in a single graphic.

to some extent, i think it helps to limit the geographic reach - for example, in the city people pay a very high premium for real and perceived safety. this tapers off as you get farther from the CBD.

[Chemistry_Guy]

Actually, that was my point... a safe neighborhood with nightlife like Mt. Adams, Hyde Park, or Mt. Lookout tends to be expensive.

In my field we have a saying, "Cheap, fast, or quality, pick two." I guess the projection of this onto housing is "Safe, exciting, or affordable, pick two." If a neighborhood is both safe and exciting, it will be in demand, pushing prices up. It might be more appropriate to use "convenient" instead of nightlife for an older demographic, but I think convenience and nightlife may go hand in hand for the young professional type crowd.

[progmac]

Ah ha. Very interesting. It seems like we could make a series of these sorts of plots and explain the whole universe of variables, sort of, kind of, with plenty of error! There are so many tradeoffs...i could see safety <---> vibrancy; schools <---> diversity; walkability <---> affordability; etc etc

[OlliesThoughts]

I like these plots. Are they based on real data, or intuition? If data, what is the source?

[Wilson513]

I like anything graphical as an aid to decision making. These XY axis plots are most useful when there are four variables. A three dimensional version of this might be interesting too. Someone with some 3D modeling skill should give that a shot.

[progmac]

Originally Posted by OlliesThoughts

I like these plots. Are they based on real data, or intuition? If data, what is the source?

intuition. we are too lazy and prejudice to mess with real data around here

[WontYouBeMyNeighbor]

It's been a few years, but this post came up in another thread, and I really like the idea. Here's a go at it, please criticize the evaluations, I'll admit my ignorance. So one axis is safety the other is affordability, the bigger dot represents nicer houses (considering both potential and work needed to fulfill potential). The color represents the school performance (more red/yellow is district on hard times, more green is highly rated). With CPS since magnet schools are an equalizer I added a bonus for a good neighborhood school or convenient commute to a nice magnet school (though obviously not required for admission). Finally opacity/brightness represents how vibrant a business district/nightlife is for an area.