from Connie:

Since the final writing assignment won’t be linked to our public-facing web project, I wanted to throw out a few ideas to help clarify that assignment, which is described as follows:

Assignment #4: Neighborhood portrait. This is the major writing assignment for the seminar. Working individually or in groups, you’ll be asked to choose a neighborhood that is interesting in terms of its ethnic history or political or social aspects, and to tell its story through factual and statistical information (history, demographics, physical appearance, etc.), your own observations, and the stories of residents, based on in-person interviews.

A few points to keep in mind in choosing a neighborhood

Don’t forget the convenience of getting there and doing research. You might want to return to a neighborhood about which you’ve written in a previous assignment, but you might want to explore a new setting, so you don’t feel as if you’re endlessly repeating yourself.

The paper is due May 7, so you have just over a month to work on it. The length is 1,500 words, and it can run a bit longer since there’s lots of ground to cover.

These reports will be posted on our website and with the help of John Boy I hope we can include photos and maybe also audio and even video.

Overall description

Your paper should include specific information regarding the history, demographics, physical appearance and culture of a neighborhood. But the goal will be to tell the story of the neighborhood as much as possible through the people who live there so we can picture them, hear them speak, learn their histories, and through their eyes understand what it’s like to live in the neighborhood.

Specific elements

The paper should paint a visual portrait of the area, so we can picture the types of buildings (both residential and commercial), the parks and other open space, important institutions, street life, etc.

It should paint a portrait of the population in terms of age, income, and ethnic, religious and racial characteristics, types of occupations, and family structure (ie. single or families). In other words, what type of people live there?

It should tell us something about the cultural and social characteristics of the groups living in the neighborhood. What are their values and behavior patterns? What is their lifestyle like? How do people spend their free time? What goals have they set for themselves and their children? How do they interact with each other and how do they view outsiders? What, in a social and cultural sense, makes their community unique?

Some specific elements you will need to include:

• Census figures on the population of the neighborhood, its ethnic makeup, and how that makeup has changed over the years.
• A brief history of the neighborhood, with a discussion of various immigrant groups that have lived there.
• Details about immigrant life in the neighborhood as expressed through stores, religious institutions, restaurants and street life.
• Cultural characteristics of different groups living there—where they worship, how they handle matters like marriage and family, their attitudes toward education.
• Description of housing, quality of schools, transportation and health care and other social services.
• Discussion of major issues confronting the neighborhood — ie housing, crime, ethnic tensions, etc.

Some sources for basic research

1. “The Newest New Yorkers: Characteristics of the City’s Foreign-Born Population,” 2013 edition, by Joseph Salvo and Peter Lobo of the City Planning Department’s Population Division. This is a terrific source for basic demographic information. Here’s the PDF.
2. AIA Guide to New York City. Fifth edition, 2010. This is invaluable for a portrait of a neighborhood’s history, appearance and important buildings.
3. Profiles of individual community districts compiled by the City Planning Department and posted on the NYC.gov website.

Other suggestions of good sources much appreciated. Please post a comment below.