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Have you ever noticed..that the SOUTH SIDE of every city is the "bad" side?
If you mean bad as in, "I wouldn't want to live there," then, no. The bad side of town is typically an area where there are conditions that are not compatible with relatively desirable residential conditions. People will generally want to live where there is, for example, high personal safety (ex. minimal crime), low probability of environmental hazards (ex. flooding), minimal extremes in weather (cold/heat), low impact to personal wellbeing (ex. freeway noise), a 'higher' aesthetic appeal (ex. architecture or skyline views), high stability (ex. employment), and a variety of activities.
The places that cannot provide these residential conditions will not be desirable and (generally) the only individuals who will live there will be those who have no choice but to live there. And those who generally have no choice are those who generally cannot afford to choose.
All it's basic geography. Many cities are built by rivers and rivers almost always flow south. You generally don't want to be down river, especially in industrial times when all the crap would literally flow into your back yard. I'm from Rochester, NY and it's along one of the rare rivers that flows northward, thus in Rochester the bad parts are typically to the North.
Even more so in most cities the east side is the bad part of town. This is because in the Northern Hemisphere winds blow from west to east. You don't want to be on the east side with all the smoke coming from west side of the city hitting you.
Most cities developed it's industrial areas either down river (typically south) and or to east to limit the impact of air and river pollution. Therefore the poor are forced to live in the less desirable more industrial/polluted areas of town.
It's almost certain that in 90% of cities 100 years ago or so the south side or east side was the bad side. Only in recent times as the industrial bases deteriorate, pollution is less of of an impact and with gentrification of these areas they are now typically becoming the most new and revitalized parts of many cities.
Salt lake city...the "bad" side is west and north. South and east is preferable living, closer to the mountians. The north and west side is in the valley. More wind...not sheltered or protected.
Haha. This is HILARIOUS! Yes. I have thought about that "verbatim," and most of the time it's true. South Central LA, south side of Chicago, the southern suburbs of Atlanta, the south end of Seattle (Tukwila, White Center, bleh), the south side of Indianapolis, the southern working class areas around Boston, etc.
I can think of a few exceptions, though. One exception is Las Vegas. North Las Vegas is horrible. Another exception is Portland, OR. North Portland has historically been the poor area, but it has rapidly turned around. I think the reason in both of these cases is topography. The south part of Las Vegas can be strewn on hills and canyons, and offer some views looking northward to the expanse of The Strip. The southern part of Portland has more interesting vistas, on hills flanked by a winding river, and even a lake in Lake Oswego, probably considered the household word for the best of the newer suburbs, much like Bellevue occupies that niche for Seattle.
Maybe from the song "bad bad Leroy Brown", had an influence, which is about a man from the South Side of Chicago. Released by song writer Jim Croce in 1973.
In Denver, the SE side is the "in" area. There are some less-desirable neighborhoods both north, esp. NE and SW.
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