The Barclays Center, which opened in September of 2012, is a sporting arena that was largely paid for through public subsidies, used eminent domain to create space to build, and was said to have potentially negative environmental impacts. The public backlash was strong and greatly delayed the construction from its proposition in 2004 to its start in March of 2010. The Barclays Center has redefined the area, which is located at the junction of five Brooklyn neighborhoods—Park Slope, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, Prospect Heights, and Fort Greene. This location makes finding demographic information about the area relatively hard, but it is easier if the neighborhoods are broken down into zip codes—11215, 11217, 11201, 11238, 11205.

Zip Code	11201	11205	11215	11217	11238
Neighborhood(s)	Downtown Brooklyn; Boerum Hill	Fort Greene	Parkslope	Parkslope; Boerum Hill	Prospect Heights
Total Pop.	54,668	43,002	68,891	38,787	51,895
Land area (sq.mi)	1.4	0.9	2.2	0.8	1.1
Median Resident Age	35.2	29.3	34.5	34.9	34.5
Renting Pop. (%)	62	78	62	71	71
Education Level (%)
High school or higher	92	80	92	87	90
Bachelor’s degree or higher	70	40	69	62	56
Graduate degree	37	18	35	30	25
Race (%)
White	57	36	62	46	32
Black	13	30	5	19	43
Asian	9	5	6	6	5
Hispanic or Latino	12	20	16	19	11

The entirety of the five zip codes is home to 240,125 people. The racial breakdown is 58.7% white, 23.8% black, and 16.3% Latino or Hispanic. Park Slope (11215 and 11217), Downtown Brooklyn (11201), and Boerum Hill (11201 and 11217) have the highest percentages of white residents, while Prospect Heights (11238) and Fort Greene (11205) have the most equitable black and white population ratios.

Most of these neighborhoods, other than the notoriously diverse Fort Greene, have experienced a large amount of racial tension. The area experienced white-flight in the 1950s and became mostly Italian and Irish, but by the 70s it was mostly black and Latino. Then, in the 80s and 90s brownstones became popular and there was a dramatic influx of upper-middle class people that couldn’t quite afford Manhattan. So today, the area has become quite gentrified, leaving minorities with the lowest-paying jobs and the worst housing.