New York County Diversity Essay

Chicago serves as the best example for diversity. If we walk down on Devon Street, the area, which is located between western and California serves many communities. You could see Indian, Russian, Pakistani and Jewish shops, all side by side. When looked in closely shop-by-shop we see different cultural shopkeeper carrying material of that specific culture. When looked in from far distance that place will be known as Devon Street and not as a specific cultural shop name.

In my research of Austin, Texas I found out several interesting facts regarding the demographic makeup of the city. For example, the racial breakdown by race is whites 68%, blacks 8%, Hispanic are at 35% and foreign-born 18% The makeup is obviously different when you compare Austin to the US as a whole, however, it is interesting to see the “total picture”. The following is the breakdown for the US whites 72%, black 12.6%, Hispanic 17%, and foreign-born 13%.

The cultural demographic in Queens County is heavily dominated by a melting pot of Asian cultures including Chinese, Korean and Indian. Historically, the Fresh Meadows was thriving Jewish community. In 2010, there was 44.3% White who may have celebrated the Jewish culture and 45.2% Asians. Now, it has been surveyed that 47.7% of the total population in Fresh Meadows is Asian (US Census Bureau, 2014). But, nonetheless, in this diverse community, it is not difficult to find someone who have the cultural background.

Over the years, Bensonhurst has diversified and experienced a remarkable amount of change, especially in terms of the population. Bensonhurst’s diversity is not limited to just those particular ethnic groups mentioned above, there are also a lot of Albanians, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and more.  According to the statistics of the residents in Bensonhurst & Bath Beach Puma, NY, the most common country of origins is China, Ukraine, and Italy (“BENSONHURST & BATH BEACH PUMA, NY,” n.d.). While, there is a high relative number of people born in Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan. Whereas the most common race or ethnicity is white, Asian, and then Hispanic (“BENSONHURST & BATH BEACH PUMA, NY,” n.d.). This once again reinforces the idea that the authenticity of Bensonhurst is changing, considering the Italian population is no longer as prominent and predominant over other ethnic groups. New residents are replacing former residents and thus, causing a lot of diversity and modification. Currently, Bensonhurst, for the most part, is divided based on ethnicity. The 18th Avenue section is highly populated with Asians, whereas the “northern blocks, adjacent to Borough Park” are popular with Orthodox Jews (Mooney, 2011). The southern blocks, near the ocean as well as the Bath Beach part are popular with Russians. The division based on ethnic groups suggests a restrictive kind of mentality in which people would rather stick with their own ethnicity rather than engage and reside with those

Before getting into the case of Ocean Hill-Brownsville, Podair begins by discussing how the New York population became so divided in the first place. After WWII ended in 1945, the industry landscape shifted from on one that mainly relied on manufacturing to one contrived of service occupations. As a result, there was a plummet in the demand for low education labor, and a spike in the desire for workers with higher education. Resultantly, black communities were marginalized and jobless. Similarly, housing constraints and de facto segregation lead to mainly black neighborhoods, leading to neighborhoods that provided abysmal education for its local youth. A region in the Bronx that epitomized this lackluster educational system is the schooling system of Ocean Hill-Brownsville.

First and foremost, South-Central Brooklyn is one of the most overpopulated community within Brooklyn, it is extremely diverse with many rich cultures and traditions. Within it, lies seven neighborhoods which are Flatbush, Borough Park, Ditmas Park, Midwood, Kensington, Manhattan Terrance, and Prospect Park South. It serves Community Districts 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17. It mostly consists of densely populated African American, Hispanic and West Indian neighborhoods. According to the 2015 U.S census bureau, the population of Brooklyn stands at 2,504,700 out of which South-Central Brooklyn has approximately 804,982 residents and it is expected to have grown gradually through the one year-period that has elapsed (United States Census Bureau, 2014). This is more than double the amount of the total number of people that was living in South- Central Brooklyn in 2000, which was only 317, 300. Presently there are 37% Caucasians, 36% African American, 16% Hispanic, 10% Asian, and 2% other (Indian) living in South-Central Brooklyn. The female population is 54.6%, and the male population is 45.4% (United States Census Bureau, 2014).

I thought cities had more diversity, more poverty, and low income household than suburb areas and this was supported by the above data. I learned that the increase of wealth and income in a small community hinders the rest of community where middle and low income families live. The ability to live in a “good” neighborhood is linked to income. Income can be one of the factors that determine how a region can be segregated. Even in the city, the income of the household separates the lower income families from the higher income families. High income families tend to live together and low income families tend to live in the same

“People Like Us” by David Brooks examines diversity in America and argues that even though society tends to idealize diversity in a way, most of us don’t really care too much about it as long as we are happy. In the first paragraph Brooks states “ what I have seen all around the country is people making strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves”. This is something that most of us notice on some scale, but what does it say about the need for diversity in America? Brooks explains “The United States might be a diverse nation when considered as a whole, but block by block and institution by institution it is a relatively homogenous nation” This is an irrefutable truth, we all know that cities like Laredo Texas and Lincoln Nebraska are predominantly white and in cities like Detroit Michigan and Jackson Mississippi the population is predominantly black. However, what we fail to realize is the extreme racial separation that is taking place naturally at a much smaller scale, not even city to city but neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house. Brooks backs up his claim with the following example, “In Manhattan the owner of a three million dollar SoHo loft would feel out of place moving into a three million dollar Fifth Avenue apartment”. Politics, religion, income, lifestyle and general outlook on life can change in a matter of blocks. This may all seem

Is gentrification causing segregation in urban cities? The majority of modern day cities are in a state of steady gentrification. Many people believe that gentrification is making the city more modern, safe, and appealing to other people. However, these people in their naivety fail to comprehend the hidden consequences and impact of gentrification on various ethnic groups and low-income families. Gentrification is a master of disguise that hides itself with assumed correlations to everyday people. One such assumption is that gentrification will increase the socioeconomic diversity of a neighborhood.

When cities begin their journey of being gentrified, many locals become displaced. Displacement is when locals are uprooted from their homes, due to outside factors, and forced to move elsewhere. According to the Urban Displacement Project conducted by U.C. Berkeley, “Gentrification results from both flows of capital and people. The extent to which gentrification is linked to racial transition differs across neighborhood contexts... Displacement takes many different forms—direct and indirect, physical or economic, and exclusionary—and may result from either investment or disinvestment” (U.C. Berkeley). Many people are coming into San Francisco’s Bay Area because of how diverse each element is. However, according to Census numbers, between 1990 and 2010, 35.7% of San Francisco’s black population dwindled (Bliss). 35.7% of the black community within San Francisco suffered from displacement. An additional 53% of low-income households in the Bay Area are at risk for displacement and gentrification (U.C. Berkeley). This has definitely left a dent within the diversity reputation held up by the Bay Area. When such a strong large part of people leave, The City will experience a shift in culture and community. Whether, it is the real estate, the food, the different cultures, the Bay Area has always been known for being different. Perhaps, this is why so many outsiders are coming in and buying up every piece of land they can. Whether their intentions were to purchase land and

Through the years, Miami’s population seems to be growing fast and it is shown through the increase of development in apartment buildings and expansion of neighborhoods that were once rural areas. According to the Suburban Stats website (2016 and 2015), currently the total population in Miami is 2,496,435. Majority of Miami’s population are whites who account for 1,841,887, Native Hawaiian’s came out to be the minority totaling 126 and Hispanic’s resulted in a total of 1,623,859.

Our next adventure was Brooklyn, NY. Although this borough was just a 20-minute train ride away I never really had many opportunities to visit it. I was excited to visit the borough because growing up I always heard that it had the best food in all of New York City. The borough is also known as Kings County and is home to nearly three million people. This makes Brooklyn the second most populous boroughs in New York. It is said that if the Borough were an independent city it would be the third most populous city in the U.S. (191).

New York City is made up of five boroughs, which include the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. Within these boroughs, there are high and low-income neighborhoods that contain either high or low status organizational structures or facilities. Each division has their own characteristics and top attractions, such as the Empire State building, Central Park, or Times Square. As New York City may be known for great food and fun attractions, New York faces infrastructure problems within each borough. New York City’s infrastructure funding is limited in lower income neighborhoods, where money needed to upkeep the city goes toward prime tourist’s areas or residents living in high status neighborhoods, such as The Upper East Side of Manhattan, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, and Lenox Hill, Manhattan. Moreover, abandoned buildings, poor sewage conditions, and rocky roads and streets are examples of low-income area infrastructure problems that may hinder neighborhood growth both structurally and economically. Harlem, East Brooklyn, and South Bronx are low-income parts of New York that lack new and refined facilities, roads, plumbing, and fundamental structures, which contribute to high crime and arrests.

In Jane Jacobs’s acclaimed The Life and Death of Great American Cities, she intricately articulates urban blight and the ills of metropolitan society by addressing several binaries throughout the course of the text. One of the more culturally significant binaries that Jacobs relies on in her narrative is the effectively paradoxical relationship between diversity and homogeneity in urban environments at the time. In particular, beginning in Chapter 12 throughout Chapter 13, Jacobs is concerned greatly with debunking widely held misconceptions about urban diversity.

Chicago serves as the best example for diversity. If we walk down on Devon Street, the area, which is located between western and California serves many communities. You could see Indian, Russian, Pakistani and Jewish shops, all side by side. When looked in closely shop-by-shop we see different cultural shopkeeper carrying