Urban Planning: Course Project, The Power of Location Part 2

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Using ArcGIS to Map Poverty in Newark, NJ

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Consider this. Location, Location, Location. Non-Profits can use location to maximize their effectiveness on improving the lives of disadvantaged youth.

Case Study Location: Newark, New Jersey

By: W. S. Hughes

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Updated October 2009 The non-profits registered and located in Newark City have missions focused on youth development.  They offer diverse avenues to Newark’s children who need comfort, support, and personal champions. I used ArcGIS to map poverty in Newark.

All maps were developed in ArcGIS to show, over all, the concentrations of poverty in the State of New Jersey, and in Newark City in particular.  Concentration of poverty can be represented using various symbology – Another way to represent poverty would have been to apply gradations of color, compared to expressing data with points.  In the map on the farthest right, the city of Newark is highlighted.  You can see, through the symbology I used,  a concentration of poverty.    The East Ward is a cultural center and on the map it appears to have less of a concentration of poverty but infact has a range of issues specific to that location.  It holds the Ironbound, a community with a high percentage of Portuguese immigrants.  The East Ward also is the location of a range of environmental justice initiatives regarding issues of poor air quality, an accumulation of containers found in residential settings that are used to transport international products via Newark’s ports, etc.

Note: Potential for further GIS map editing.

Special thanks to the professor, Dr. Wansoo Im, who taught the course GIS & Public Health at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy, and to Christina Miller, & especially Calvin Tien.

© W. S. Hughes 2008

April 30, 2008
Categories: My ArcGIS . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: Resident Planning Geek

2 Comments

  1. Comment by Pete on July 13, 2009 4:44 pm

    How did you get the coordinates or information on the exact boundaries of each of Newark’s Wards?

  2. Comment by Resident Planning Geek on July 13, 2009 5:27 pm

    I utilized census data through ESRI, the makers of ArcGIS software, to create these maps. This is cenus.gov data and ESRI Tigerline data.


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