
Why are the east of cities usually poorer? - spxdcz
http://www.thejanuarist.com/why-are-the-east-of-cities-usually-poorer/
======
quant18
Yep, it's similar over here in Hong Kong too, though a bit more complicated
and the directions are different. When you go up north of the Kowloon
Peninsula into the mountains, there's a lot of commuter towns built in
valleys, where you can find surprisingly cheap housing. Now, the thing about
valleys is, wind direction depends on time of day. In the daytime, the sides
of the valley get hotter than the centre, so winds blow out of the valley,
making the air nice and clean --- but no one's home to enjoy it because
they're all off at their jobs in other districts. And at nighttime when the
sides of the valley cool faster than the centre, winds blow down into the
valley. Just in time for the people coming home to enjoy everyone else's
pollution, PLUS whatever they generate locally. Car exhaust is one obvious
source, but cooking exhaust is a surprisingly big problem too --- you'd never
think of it until you live in a place full of 50-story apartments, closely
packed together, where everyone comes home at about the same time and cooks up
a stir-fry for dinner.

Conversely, the most expensive houses (aside from the ones up on hilltops with
nice views) are generally on the south of the main island. You've got
mountains to your north and the ocean to your south. So in the summer, when
prevailing winds come from the south, you get a clean ocean breeze. In the
winter, when prevailing winds come from the north, you get all of mainland
China's factory pollution plus all of Hong Kong's car and power plant exhaust
blowing in your direction --- but you're protected by the mountains, so most
of it goes around you and blows out to sea.

~~~
louislouis
1 day out of 7 I might be able to see out my window for more than a mile here
whether its winter or summer and I'm on the main island looking north. Now I'm
not sure if it's the China pollution or general smog which every major city
suffers from?

~~~
Tichy
Must be China.

~~~
quant18
53% of the time, Hong Kong-based sources of pollution are to blame. Primarily
cars idling in traffic, boats (which don't have to use low-sulphur fuel), and
CLP's filthy power plants (which are worse than some in Shenzhen and Dongguan)

[http://www.civic-
exchange.org/eng/upload/files/200703_HKAirP...](http://www.civic-
exchange.org/eng/upload/files/200703_HKAirPollution.pdf)

~~~
Tichy
Just saying that I haven't noticed smog as a rule in other big cities. But I
have never been to megacities, I am talking about London or Berlin when I say
big cities.

------
palish
Short and to the point, lacking any kind of fluff. Very refreshing.

Almost every other article of this kind is so incredibly long that it feels
like a game of "spot the explanation".

~~~
spxdcz
Thanks. (I wrote it!)

~~~
benatkin
Ooh! I have a question. Do you know what the situation is in Seattle? Is it so
odd, with water separating cities and neighborhoods, impacting traffic, and a
corporate empire in the eastern part, that it's hard to make out? Would it
have been easier to see the situation you describe decades ago?

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Seattle's interesting. The traditionally more-affordable and more-diverse
neighborhoods have been rapidly gentrifying, and are—for the most part—pushing
minorities north and south.

I just found this interesting (and hideously formatted) PPT deck from the
University of Washington that explores the topic further:
<http://faculty.washington.edu/morrill/papers/Gentrify.ppt>

~~~
akkartik
It makes me sad when someone does this much work but fails at the final hurdle
to get the point across :(

+1.

~~~
aaronbrethorst
Seeing that he's a Professor Emeritus and 76 [1], I'm willing to cut him some
slack :)

He definitely compiled some very useful data. I'd argue that the tool failed;
he didn't fail the tool.

[1] D.O.B. 1934 per <http://faculty.washington.edu/morrill/>

edit: funny, I just realized I only live about two miles from the PPT deck's
author.

------
andrewcooke
In Santiago, Chile, the East side is richer. I thought this was an exception
to the rule until I realised that in the Southern hemisphere the winds are
Easterlies!

~~~
zppx
Here in Brazil Rio has a richer southern zone and a poorer northern and
western zones. São Paulo has a tiny rich western zone and a large and much
poorer eastern zone. I think that both are exceptions.

------
xsive
In Australia, where the prevailing winds are also westerlies, the opposite is
true. i.e. the east of most cities is more prestigious than the west.

~~~
spxdcz
Out of interest, is that typical on both coasts? Just wondering if the river
direction has anything to do with it.

~~~
xsive
On the east coast it tends to be true. As others have mentioned it might not
hold on the west coast. I just wanted to give a counterexample that shows how
shallow the OP's argument is. The reality is that there are many factors which
make certain parts of a city more desirable to live in than another. In
Australia proximity to the beach is strongly correlated with desirability. In
other places the reasons will differ. Whatever the reason, I don't believe for
a second this oversimplified fairy tale about the prevailing wind.

~~~
tokenadult
_Whatever the reason, I don't believe for a second this oversimplified fairy
tale about the prevailing wind._

Agreed. Here (Twin Cities of Minnesota) the location of lakes and rivers has
much more to do with what areas are the wealthiest. The wealthiest towns are
west or southwest of Minneapolis, terribly located for prevailing winds or for
commuting without the sun in drivers' eyes.

------
mynameishere
It's better to live in the east since you don't have to look at the sun on
your commute.

~~~
spxdcz
Nice reasoning. (Though only applicable to 'newer' cities, or at least more
recent expansion of cities).

~~~
amohr
Also only to people that commute at rush hour +/- and into/out of the city.

~~~
mekazu
Which for smaller cities is most people

------
maukdaddy
Actually in most of the major US cities, the south side is bad. For example,
SE DC, south side Chicago, south-central LA

~~~
nostrademons
Interesting. Applies to Boston too - to the north are the rapidly gentrifying
yuppie suburbs of Cambridge, Somerville and Medford, while to the south are
the more depressed areas of Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan.

Same for the non-San Jose parts of Silicon Valley: Palo Alto and Mountain View
are ritzier than neighboring Sunnyvale and Santa Clara. I don't know enough
about San Jose itself to say, nor about San Francisco. In SF, though, it seems
like many of the ritzier areas (Pac Heights, Marina, Marin) are to the north.

NYC is a notable exception: Harlem and the Bronx are in the north, while SoHo,
Tribeca, Greenwich Village, etc. are all in the south.

~~~
seldo
San Francisco shows both trends -- South San Francisco is poorer, and so is
Oakland to the East (although there are lots of other non-weather-related
reasons for Oakland).

I've never understood why South San Francisco is quite so neglected while
commuter cities like Redwood City do so well. It's literally the next-closest
town, why is it not super-expensive there?

~~~
usaar333
Are we talking about southern San Francisco (Bayview-Hunters Point, Visitacion
Valley, etc.) or South San Francisco?

For the neighborhoods of southern San Francisco, you are looking at
historically highly industrialized areas. White collar workers didn't want to
be there and ended in San Mateo County.

For South San Francisco, I disagree on it being neglected. Sure it isn't as
rich as Redwood City, but it is a far cry from say East Palo Alto or Richmond.
(You can also note the many luxury apartments and high-end office buildings
popping up). Like southern San Francisco, it historically was hurt by being,
as the San Bruno Mountain sign reminds everyone, the industrial city.

------
qq66
West Philadelphia born and raised?

The article would be much stronger if there was some quantitative backing of
the assertion that east sides are poorer.

~~~
SamReidHughes
East Philadelphia is also known as Camden, NJ, but I don't think that means
anything. West Philadelphia was originally a middle and upper class community,
before its decline in the second half of the 20th century. If you ride the el
through it, you can see some fine office buildings from the era, and you can
see the history in the architecture of the rowhouses, too.

------
Tombar
In my country => Uruguay is the other way round.. east part of the cities is
the richest one.. but i believe it's related with the coast line and the ocean
:)

~~~
GFischer
Sorry, hadn't seen your reply, posted the same :)

(OT: more than 1 Uruguayans on HN, on the same thread? Nicolas Jodal pointed
me towards here, you?)

~~~
Tombar
Just and old time lurker, recently started commenting here..

~~~
GFischer
Ok, nice to see you here (sorry for even more OT).

------
hristov
This is not true for Manhattan. The upper west side has seen quite a
renaissance lately, but it is nowhere near the upper east side in terms of
price.

------
subwindow
Saying 'east' is an oversimplification, but generally the prevailing wind
theory seems to hold up. Atlanta, for instance, the wind is SSE, with the
richer areas being in the north. It doesn't really explain how the west is
poorer than the east, however.

------
fuzzmeister
While it's hard to know if the distribution of any given city is the result of
this trend, St. Louis is certainly a great example - East St. Louis is tied
with Opa-Locka, FL as the most dangerous city in the United States.

~~~
limmeau
Never heard of Opa-Locka. What's so dangerous about it?

~~~
Goosey
Criminals.

~~~
limmeau
Any special kind? Wikipedia doesn't tell me much, and from the map it looks
like it could just be a high-crime corner of Miami which has the misfortune of
being a town of its own.

------
tlb
East-blowing pollution was a huge problem in early industrial London, where
many American settlers came from. Whether or not there was a pollution problem
where they later built cities, the meme of west=fancy, east=working class was
ingrained. Certainly in places like East Palo Alto, the problem is not being
downwind of something. It's just that the name "East" is a self-fulfilling
prediction of being worse. It only takes a tiny nudge to tip the economic
divide towards one side of town or the other.

------
jff
Rochester NY, a city with a strong industrial history, is yet another
anecdotal counterexample. The very finest houses are in fact directly east
from the city center (the Kodak mansion, for example), and in general the
nicest neighborhoods are to the east and southeast. To the north and east of
the city are the poorer, generally more dangerous areas. Of course as you
start to get far enough from the city center to the north and west you'll see
the wealthier neighborhoods again.

------
Dobbs
Salt lake is a bit different the east bench along the mountains is much more
expensive. These areas are also much older. Things get cheaper the further
west you go.

------
moolave
It seemed true in Washington DC. Northwest DC (Georgetown, tourist spots, etc)
was considered better than Southeast DC - albeit recent real estate
developments in the past couple years. Same thing with East Palo Alto although
there has been some major improvement happening in that area. Can't be true
for all though.

------
seltzered
This effect seems to be the opposite in Austin. If I'm interpreting the map
correctly, the winds blow SW, and most of the affluent/rich areas are out
there. The counterpoint is that west austin has more geographical features
such as hills, lakes and rivers to offset it.

~~~
edash
The east side of Austin is the poorer side of town. That seems to support the
assertion of the article.

------
callmeed
Are there any maps that plot mean/median income levels across different
regions of large cities?

------
moultano
I always thought the western side of most cities was poorer as a result of
having to look into the sun each way on a commute.

~~~
patrickk
The concept of a commute wouldn't have been around in medieval times when many
European cities were founded. Or even when American cities were born. People
who lived in cities tended to work there, and rural communities worked the
land. The concept of satellite towns is a recent phenomenon.

~~~
moultano
Which neighborhoods are considered poor has changed drastically over time in
most American cities that I'm aware of.

------
kazuya
Interesting. It's kinda true for Tokyo too, though probably due to historical
reasons, not just polluted winds.

------
tszming
In China, the opposite. Coastal cities (in the east) are usually richer.

~~~
JacobAldridge
The OP was discussing the east side _of_ cities, not cities on the east side
of the country.

~~~
garply
I can't speak for the other cities, but East Beijing actually is much
wealthier than West Beijing.

~~~
quant18
random link dump: Beijing air pollution statistics by district
<http://www.bjepb.gov.cn/air2008/Air.aspx>

------
micaelwidell
Stockholm (capital of Sweden) seems to be an exception to this.

------
S_A_P
this is certainly the case in Houston- the east side is all
industrial/chemical/refineries...

------
lazyant
counterexample: Louisvile, KY

~~~
spxdcz
Maybe because the city underwent a massive transition post Industrial
Revolution? "In late January and February 1937, 19 inches (48 cm) of rain fell
during a month of heavy rain. It caused the "Great Flood of '37".[23][24] The
flood submerged about 70% of the city, caused the loss of power, and forced
the evacuation of 175,000 residents. It led to dramatic changes in where
residents lived." (from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville,_Kentucky>)

------
known
Sun rises in the East.

------
ww8520
Fung Sui

