There seems to be some kind of universal "rule" that the expensive neighborhoods are north of a city, and the cheaper ones are South of it. (Anybody know any significant exceptions?)
Why should it be like that, that seems so weird to me, like 500 coin tosses all coming out heads. One should think that desirability of location would be by landscape features, not the Earth's magnetic field!
(Is it the same in the Southern hemisphere, or reversed?)
I know of several. Gainesville FL, a mid sized city, is divided east-west with the better areas to the west. Miami FL has the expensive neighborhoods in the southwest. I'm sure there are plenty of others.
ReplyDeleteWhoops, should have said southeast not southwest for Miami.
ReplyDeleteOK, thanks.
ReplyDeleteSeveral cities I have lived in have the 'desirable' areas on the west side, industrial (= undesirable) on the east side. Probably has to do with climate - which way does the prevailing wind blow? And also which way the railway tracks run ('wrong side of the tracks').
ReplyDeleteI once heard that historically, it was to do with the river. Most cities were built around rivers for sea transport and so the rivers were also used as massive sewers. If the prevailing wind blew in a particular direction for most of the year then this stinky part would become the poor area.
ReplyDeleteHere we have the railroads running in the flatlands, near the water. That's where the poorer people tend to live. As you move away from the water and towards the hills, the neighborhoods get nicer.
ReplyDeleteOne one side of the bay, that means the east is the good part of town. On the other side of the bay, it's the west.
Due to our propensity to always show our maps with north being up. The north side of town is subliminally considered the high ground.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea of this is true, it just came to mind. Is the phenomenon present in cities before the widespread use of maps?
I thought it was usually the east end that was the poorest, it was the most industrialized.
ReplyDeleteLiverpool.
ReplyDeleteThe bigger house and better off building area all to the south. Partly driven by where the docks were intially.
London.
West end is the most wealthy. The north is middling. And the south is a little bit less middling. The poorest bits are in the East (both north east and south east -- of the river). Wind direction again as the East end had more trade and industry.
I think you need a bigger sample.
Cities in the Midlands (in the UK) seem to be exceptions; Leicester, Coventry and Nottingham all have their expensive suburbs to the south, as does Manchester.
ReplyDeleteBirmingham has both; Solihull, and then Knowle and Dorridge, to the south (also Barnt Green to the south west) and Sutton Coldfield to the north.