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I implied it and partially read it wrong, sorry. Anyway, most of it? Hard to say. For example in Chicago, I did this in another thread, but there are suburbs adding up to about 1.2 million people that actually have more Asian people than the city of Chicago itself, even though the city has over 2X the population of those combined burbs. There are also many European immigrants who live in the burbs too, and you have suburbs like Cicero which is 85% Hispanic and Berwyn next to it which is 60% hispanic. Also many southern and western suburbs that are heavily Black/African American like Harvey or Maywood at 75% each.
I'd agree a lot is in the city, but in those cities there's actually a lot in the suburbs. More than you'd think if you aren't familiar with either.
It's not really called diversity if there's areas 85% Hispanic or 75% black. That's called segregation!
It's not really called diversity if there's areas 85% Hispanic or 75% black. That's called segregation!
True, but I should have stated that I was talking about it in another way as a sum of everything. As in, not everyone from one group of people lives in the city. There's many suburbs where X group may live.
New York - 1,742,843
Chicago - 287,880
Philadelphia - 189,057
Los Angeles - 181,182 (approx. 60K in Central LA)
San Francisco - 109,013
Washington, DC - 101,002
Boston - 91,166
Seattle - 48,246
Interesting. Is this from the 2010 Census or ACS or something? It would be useful to then show what percentage of households this is too. For example, San Francisco, DC, and Philadelphia would be higher and Los Angeles lower.
Interesting. Is this from the 2010 Census or ACS or something? It would be useful to then show what percentage of households this is too. For example, San Francisco, DC, and Philadelphia would be higher and Los Angeles lower.
It's the most recent estimate from the ACS. For the aforementioned cities, the percentages are...
New York - 56.47%
Washington, DC - 37.87%
Boston - 36.87%
Philadelphia - 32.60%
San Francisco - 31.43%
Chicago - 27.89%
Seattle - 16.64%
Los Angeles - 13.59%
It's the most recent estimate from the ACS. For the aforementioned cities, the percentages are...
New York - 56.47%
Washington, DC - 37.87%
Boston - 36.87%
Philadelphia - 32.60%
San Francisco - 31.43%
Chicago - 27.89%
Seattle - 16.64%
Los Angeles - 13.59%
Awesome. Not surprising at all either. I saw a blog when I Google'd it about the cities with the most car-free household growth between 2007 and 2012:
It would also be really interesting to do a more detailed study about car use in cities. For example here in Chicago, I have friends who own cars but almost never use them. A few of them are originally from Michigan and out right own their cars. They use them to drive to see their parents maybe 5X a year. Other than that they almost never use them on a daily basis and they just sit on the streets unused for weeks at a time. Other people use them everyday, however, so it would be interesting to see what the real deal is.
Some of this honestly might be that some people just didn't have the money to afford a car and insurance. For example, why did Detroit's car free households grow so much despite the city's hardships? Just saying though.
Some of this honestly might be that some people just didn't have the money to afford a car and insurance. For example, why did Detroit's car free households grow so much despite the city's hardships? Just saying though.
Detroit's urban core is legitimately growing at a pace that's unmatched by anything else in Metropolitan Detroit. As buildings and structures are being re-purposed, rents are climbing atrociously, major corporations are moving into Downtown and the popularity of Downtown/Midtown/Corktown increases in dramatic fashion people in these areas are pedestrians, bikers, owners of mopeds/scooters/semi-autos even more so than vehicles. There's no need to own a vehicle when the people would rarely be leaving the core in the first place. The core is starting to expand further out into (formerly) blighted areas as people seek more affordable housing.
The core of Detroit is the best it's ever been in over half a century and the level of investment and the type of urban awakening there is staggering. By any city's standards.
The interesting thing is that gentrification can often drive car ownership up. Car ownership tends to be positively correlated with affluence. The decline you see in Detroit is probably not driven by urbanists, but rather minorities living in economically depressed neighborhoods. The fastest way to make a neighborhood "car free" is to import a lot of poor people.
That's why I think the best way to determine how "car free" a neighborhood/place truly is is by looking at car ownership rates and income. Most people living in Park Slope, for example, could probably own a car if they really wanted one badly. But they choose not to because it's easy enough to handle daily affairs without one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu
It would also be really interesting to do a more detailed study about car use in cities. For example here in Chicago, I have friends who own cars but almost never use them. A few of them are originally from Michigan and out right own their cars. They use them to drive to see their parents maybe 5X a year. Other than that they almost never use them on a daily basis and they just sit on the streets unused for weeks at a time. Other people use them everyday, however, so it would be interesting to see what the real deal is.
That's what the National Transportation Household Survey is for.
It's hard to get a sense of how often people in a city drive imo. I like to drive a lot. I know some people who have cars but don't drive much at all (though most people I know don't even have cars). If you look at transit share, walking/cycling share and car ownership, I think you can piece together a decent picture of what a place is probably like on the ground.
Last edited by BajanYankee; 04-11-2014 at 12:36 PM..
Some of this honestly might be that some people just didn't have the money to afford a car and insurance. For example, why did Detroit's car free households grow so much despite the city's hardships? Just saying though.
Yep, that was my thoughts too for a city like Detroit which isn't as urban over a long period as a place like SF, Chicago, NYC, etc. I'm guessing for some cities it has more to do with other things. I have a friend who moved here from Indianapolis a year ago, but the downtown area there is growing pretty rapidly I guess. Funny enough some of the rents are just as expensive as Chicago, but that's besides the point.
Very interesting nonetheless. The younger generation, especially those who have traveled to Europe or South America, seem to be craving the more urban less car lifestyle a lot more in this country now.
It would also be really interesting to do a more detailed study about car use in cities. For example here in Chicago, I have friends who own cars but almost never use them. A few of them are originally from Michigan and out right own their cars. They use them to drive to see their parents maybe 5X a year. Other than that they almost never use them on a daily basis and they just sit on the streets unused for weeks at a time. Other people use them everyday, however, so it would be interesting to see what the real deal is.
Good stuff. I'm not seeing how Los Angeles' percentage of car-free households dropped 3% from the 2000 census (when it was at 16.53%) when all evidence suggests car-free/car-lite households in the city are on the rise:
Also, car ownership does not automatically mean every single errand is accomplished with an automobile. Munchitup has a statistic which showed that 1/5 trips in Los Angeles County are accomplished without a car. If you control for the most densely populated areas (like Central LA), that percentage would undoubtably rise.
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