(Post publishing note: Dualism is where there are major differences in observable aspects of localities in close proximity)
(Post-post publishing note: do not copy and paste this work or use this work without permission, this work is copyright to daranth (the owner of this blog) and may only be used as and in reference (when one does not have written permission to copy parts of this blog without referencing). Pictures are all edited and, if used, must be referenced to this post - base images either have recognition on them, or under them as captions)
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Dualism in
Washington D.C.
There are 2
main assumptions that come with dualism in the Washington metropolitan area[1]:
the first being that people believe that the inner-city has the largest
percentage of people in poverty (according to urban landuse models, such as the Burgess or Hoyt models); although the percentage of the total
population that is poor is 4 times higher than in the surrounding suburbs, the
suburbs collectively had 61% of the area’s people in poverty, and of those,
53.8% of the people in poverty lived outside the beltway; thus the poverty is
mostly concentrated in the suburbs, although there is a higher concentration of
people in poverty in the D.C. area. The second assumption is that poverty is
getting worse in the area; however the number of people in poverty has actually
fallen by 10,000 between the years of 1980 and 1990.
Areas of Deprivation
The
Federal District of Washington DC is a very small area. The areas of deprivation in the city are mostly on the eastern side of the Anacostia River. However, as in any society, there are always a significant number of poor people in every region, thus the city is affected by the metropolitan areas around it, such as Arlington County, of which has a poverty rate of 7.1%. The majority of people in
poverty are outside of the beltway (53.8%), therefore, to look at areas of deprivation, we must look at the metropolitan area as a whole.
poverty are outside of the beltway (53.8%), therefore, to look at areas of deprivation, we must look at the metropolitan area as a whole.
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| This landuse map of Washington DC helps one understand what is meant by the previous paragraph |
Reasons for the Disparities
There are a
few reasons why there are disparities in and around Washington DC: racial
segregation and economic segregation (for which there is relatively little economic polarisation is DC). Due to this embedded segregation,
predominantly black communities within the District of Columbia face the most socio-economic challenges and need the
most attention by federal government to combat poverty.
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| Original base image: http://saabrealtors.com/SearchForeclosure.aspx |
The map shows the overall
poverty rate as a percentage of the population per region in the metropolitan
area around Washington DC. It only shows the poverty rates of black and white
people, as Hispanics have a relatively low poverty rate, due to heavy
integration with the local people. If they are integrated into local communities,
they are less likely to be segregated socio-economically.
In contrast, the black population are very much segregated from the white
population, and therefore in general, the more integration in an area, the more tolerance one tends to have, and the less poverty in the area. For example, 48.7% of
all low poverty areas are
predominantly white, and 13.3% are majority black. Approximately 25% of low
poverty areas have a mix of black and white people, and only 7.8% of low
poverty areas are fully integrated by black, white and Hispanic communities.
This data helps lead to the conclusion that if areas are predominantly white, or are more integrated
with white people, they will have a lower poverty rate than areas that have
little or no integration. To contrast this, only 5% of intermediate poverty areas
are predominantly white, and of the metropolitan area as a whole, whites have
an average poverty rate of 3.5%, compared to an average of 12.6% for black
people. However, there are a growing number of black low poverty areas, such as
in Prince William County.
Economically,
as mentioned before, the metropolitan area around Washington DC isn’t polarised
into rich white people and poor black communities. The levels of integration
between ethnicities are important in bringing down poverty in the area, and increasing
the economic prosperities of the region.
Policies
In 1988, Washington
DC city council announced the whole Anacostia area as an economic redevelopment
zone. This gave the area tax incentives for developers to construct buildings
and to establish businesses in the area. A year later, city and federal housing
subsidies were announced. The announcement coincided with the opening of a
local railway station, leading to the redevelopment of 3500 housing units. This
improved the levels of poverty and quality of life of locals. However, the rise
of land price from $2 per square foot to $55 per square foot and other
developments may push poorer families out of the area due to increased cost of
living there, moving the problems out of the city.
To improve
the Washington metropolitan area, in my opinion, each improvement must be tailored
for each individual region as they all have unique problems. Some areas have
more crime, and so need crackdowns on organised crime and incentives to keep
children and teenagers occupied as to deter them from criminal activity. Some areas have
low levels of education (in high poverty neighbourhoods, half of adults (47.9%)
over 24 lack a high school diploma, compared to only 14.8% of the Washington
metropolitan area as whole). Tackling low levels of education requires more
adult education courses, which would have to be free as high poverty areas
wouldn’t be able to afford the courses.
Opinions
Racial and
economic segregation across the whole of the Washington metropolitan area must
be fixed. Until this happens nothing can be done to eliminate the poverty in
and around DC. So currently, until social issues have been fixed, the area will
not improve. And poverty will remain high.
Conclusion
The
reliability of my essay is an issue, which I will briefly mention. The data I
have used for this essay comes from the urban institute[2].
It was produced in 1997 and only uses data between 1980 and 1990, so the data
cannot be relied on for current information. However, there have been very few
reports on this issue in the Washington DC area, therefore using the data for the Washington
metropolitan area is equally as valid, as shows how the problems are evident, not just on a city-scale, but a regional scale too.
Both of the
authors who wrote the afore mentioned report are reliable and are highly qualified in
their respective fields of research. Hence the essay can be deemed as reliable, but as the data is currently out of date, further research is needed in order for a fuller and more accurate depiction and analysis of the levels of dualism in Washington DC and the surrounding metropolitan area.
[1] Washington Metropolitan
Area is the core and peripheral suburbs of the area centring on Washington DC
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So! That's a brief look into dualism in Washington DC! And this work didn't even get marked... so yeah!