Urban Demographics- A City Transect

Due date for graphs and 2-page narrative description/interpretation of data: posted to D2L Urban
Transect Assignment Dropbox before mentor session on Thursday, April 23
Whats this assignment about?:
So far this term weve been thinking about human rights, inequality, and the way in which some social groups
experience oppression on a daily basisin their professional lives, their treatment as citizens, and in their
everyday interactions. Weve also been thinking about how scientific disciplines have conceived of differences
among people, and how those conceptions of difference have shaped our society and might continue to shape our
society in the future. In this assignment well be thinking about how researchers from various fields such as
sociology, urban studies, even epidemiology, might examine an urban landscape and try to understand the trends
in populations found in neighborhoods throughout a city. Gathering information and making comparisons is a
path toward understanding social inequality, which is the beginning of a process that might address such
inequalities with education, activism, government intervention, etc.
Assignment Description:
Every ten years, as mandated by the Constitution, the federal government counts us (Why do they do this? For
what is the information used?) The information gathered by the census has grown and now includes a great
number of revealing facts about the nature of our communities. Summary data for metropolitan areas is useful for
comparing cities, but doesnt tell us much about how the cities are structured. But the census also makes data
available by zip code areas, which will allow us to examine neighborhoods. In ecology, in order to get a picture
of how an ecosystem is organized without being overwhelmed by too much information (or work), biologists will
frequently run a transect, sampling along a straight line that crosses through the area theyre interested in.
Archeologists do the same thing when conducting a search for artifacts. Today well be running transects through
the census data on Portland and one other city for comparison (either Detroit or San Francisco). Work in teams
of 2-3. It may help to use two computers simultaneously, one to gather data and the other to record it.
The objectives of this exercise are:
1. To gain facility in the use of excel and its graphing function.
2. To learn to interpret quantitative information and to use it to communicate
3. Gain some insight into the socioeconomic structure of our city and its neighborhoods and think
about how that insight might be valuable for considering inequalities
4. Contrast Portland with another urban area.
Procedure:
All of the work for this project should be examined and discussed TOGETHER. Do not divide jobs and then
submit the whole without reviewing the data results as a group. THIS IS THE POINT OF THE ASSIGNMENT.
Examine the zip code map for Portland, identifying landmarks and regions youre familiar with. Choose either a
horizontal (East West) or a vertical (North-South) transect. For E-W begin in Gresham ( 97230 or 97233)) and
run a straight line to Hillsboro (97006). For N-S, begin in Vancouver WA (98665 or so) and run south to Lake
Oswego (97034). Try to hit the central downtown area and end up with between 7 and 10 zip codes (you might
need to skip an occasional glancing interception or bend your line a tad).
Two good sources of census information by zip code are the census itself (http://factfinder.census.gov ) or one of
the marketing firms that uses the government information (www.city-data.com). On the city data site, do not click
on the city, but look to the bottom of the page and click on zip code. The government site has the information in
a nice, compact form, but the site may stall after youve run a number of zips and require some down time. The
commercial site runs more smoothly, but includes a lot of clutter. Visit them both, enter a zip code and be sure and

scroll all the way down on the commercial site. Find Median Household Income What is a median? How
might a household differ from a family?
Think about which of the variables listed will give you insights into the nature of the different communities that
make up the city (education, median age, family size, home values, etc.) Everyone will use Median Household
Income. Choose three additional variables. Because the zip code areas do not have equal populations, be sure to
use either averages or percentages (non-english speakers, homeowners, whites, etc.) and not absolute population
numbers.
Set up an Excel table for your data (you might want to use a second computer). Have a label row along the top
which clearly indicates the variable term (some of the variable terms are quite similar so make sure you make the
distinctions clear). In the first column list the zip codes of your transect in the order you pass through them.
Allocate a second column for place names when you know them. In the third, list your household incomes, and
then put your remaining variables in the succeeding columns. If youre using the government site add an
additional row below your zips for the national averages, which are also provided.
Once you have created an Excel table, go to the chart wizard on the toolbar. Pick an appropriate graph form for
these data (vertical bar or line?) Graph each variable you have listed in your Excel table by highlighting the
data column to tell Excel what your input is. Label the graphs so its clear what were looking at. You may go to
another marketing company website that gives some qualitative description of the people living in each zip code
area (www.zipwho.com or www.zillow.com). Now together as a group write your 2-page interpretation of your
data: examine your graphs and describe in a couple of paragraphs for each graph the nature of the communities
and how they change as you move through the city. How do you understand the differences in neighborhoods?
Are there any unexplained variations? Have you traveled through these areas of the city? Are there surprises in the
data reveal compared to what your informal impressions were?
Now take the map for a second city, either Detroit or New Orleans and repeat the whole process, choosing a
transect that extends from the inner city to the outskirts of the metropolitan area (Again, aim for 7-10 zip code
areas). Create another set of graphs for this second city (same variables, same procedure as you used for
Portland.) Then add the paragraphs on the second citys graphs to your two-page narrative report.
Now, you might add a couple of paragraphs at the end of the report that reflect on the comparison youve made in
examining Portland and another city. Are the trends for the two cities different? How?
A report will be due before mentor session on April 23 that includes the graphs your group developed and your
groups 2-page narrative interpretation/description in response to the data you collected. Submit all of the parts of
this assignment to the dropbox together.

Grading:
You will be graded on the clarity and completeness of the graphs and 2-page narrative interpretation/description.
You will also be graded on the nature of your participation in the project. If you dont contribute to the group
effort your grade will be affected.