Boston Neighborhoods

It will be interesting to see where this goes. The data they've collected so far results in some pretty fuzzy boundaries. I wonder to what extent this represents disagreement and to what extent it represents lack of knowledge?
 
I think it's neither but rather exposes the fluid nature of boundaries. I mean more people will disagree about certain boundaries than agree. Especially when neighborhoods grow, shrink, and gentrify.

Besides, neighborhoods are just abstract notions anyway.
 
I don't think you can really pull any conclusions about Hyde Park, Roslindale, and West Roxbury. I think most people, even on this board, would be hard pressed to draw definitive boards for them on a map, I know I couldn't. The more interesting aspects are where the boarders overlap/don't follow a road (Roxbury, Dorchester, Mission Hill, JP), and where those areas that didn't fall into the neighborhood designations (longwood, stuart st., seaport). My guess is the non-consensus areas are the way they are because people think of them as distinct neighborhoods, even if the city doesn't recognize them as such.
 
BSRED.jpg
 
Van, thanks for posting the link - that's my little project over there. (Well, along with another guy, but I'm the one who made all the maps this time!)

As for disagreement versus lack of knowledge: I think there's some of both, but the data were collected in such a way that there's no way to distinguish that. That's something that's been hit upon a number of times now in people's comments on that blog post, so I think one future direction will be to try to understand the difference and what it means. There are other things that are unclear because of the data collection methods, but hey, it's something.

Anyway, more maps definitely coming to highlight the overlaps and things like that. Suggestions for things to look for are most appreciated! I'll publish the actual data too, once we've done a few more maps.
 
A related question: are neighborhood boundaries more strongly defined by the people that live in them, or the people that live outside of them?
For example, most people throughout Boston probably consider Mass Ave to be the border between Roxbury and the South End. But I bet a lot of people living SW of Mass Ave associate themselves with the South End. And there are probably people who live along Mass Ave that consider the border to be a few blocks SW of Mass Ave.
 
Not much of a surprise that people have a harder time drawing boundaries for neighborhoods outside the center that sort of bleed into one another and aren't very distinct architecturally.

Ironic, though, that many of these neighborhoods were the ones that once had actual political boundaries between them.
 
piggiston -- is there a reason why Charlestown and East Boston were omitted from the project?
 
^ Because they're isolated from the rest of Boston and have only water boundaries or legal boundaries with surrounding communities.
 
I think it was in a yelp review of the bus stop pub someone said "if you don't know the difference between Allston and Brighton someone here WILL tell you". I feel like unlike some other neighborhoods, there are very specific boarders here, known by locals very well.

I don't know how I feel about this whole crowdsourcing thing in general. I don't think that a majority opinion should hold when it is based off of ignorance or falacy. I know this is a big issue in the linguistics world as well. Its a scary world when facts are thrown away for ignorant consensus.
 
BussesAin'tTrains said:
^ Because they're isolated from the rest of Boston and have only water boundaries or legal boundaries with surrounding communities.
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Right, this. Although we are a bit interested in people not knowing where neighborhoods are (for example thinking of East Boston as only a small part of East Boston in reality), this thing was a little more about potential overlaps and such, which of course doesn't come into play in Charlestown and East Boston.
 
davem said:
I don't know how I feel about this whole crowdsourcing thing in general. I don't think that a majority opinion should hold when it is based off of ignorance or falacy. I know this is a big issue in the linguistics world as well. Its a scary world when facts are thrown away for ignorant consensus.
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This has been an interesting point so far in some of the blog comments. Majority opinion probably shouldn't hold if the point is to come up with definitive neighborhood boundaries, but that's kind of impossible anyway and a crowdsourced map has other worth. The idea of "fallacy" is essentially the problem in the first place, after all, since in previous press coverage everyone seems to think everyone else is wrong. Part of the purpose of this crowdsourcing exercise is to see the power of outsiders and perhaps ignorance in defining what a neighborhood is, like what AmericanFolkLegend was wondering about earlier in this thread.
 
piggiston said:
Right, this. Although we are a bit interested in people not knowing where neighborhoods are (for example thinking of East Boston as only a small part of East Boston in reality), this thing was a little more about potential overlaps and such, which of course doesn't come into play in Charlestown and East Boston.
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Eastie has several distinct neighborhoods of its own, perhaps a map could define that. Even if it doesn't make a difference, Eastie gets shit on enough I feel like it should be included, if just as a olive branch. It could also be interesting to see how many people consider the neighborhood extending into the Airport, and if so how far (ie around the Wood Island area, which was demolished soon enough for people to still remember it used to be a complete neighborhood).

Omitting Charlestown, out on its own, is completely understandable however.
 
I bet a lot of people could not correctly identify the boundary between Somerville and Charlestown, though. (It is NOT Sullivan Square.)
 
Several neighborhoods have distinct sections within, sure. These maps in particular are only attempting to look at the main top-level divisions (and are more concerned with internal borders than knowing where the city ends), but it would be very interesting to ask about the smaller sub-neighborhoods and squares too, including over the river in Cambridge and Somerville. It would be cool to give people a blank map and simply say "draw your neighborhood." Might have to try that project next!
 
Dorchester is interesting because it is so large. Question for those in the know - do Dotrats really consider Dot their "neighborhood" or is it much more granular in reality?
 
I know 'back in the day' it was separated into parishes. If you told someone you were from Dot, the proper response wasn't "What part?" but "What parish?"

I'm not sure how much of that survives.
 
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