2000115-Strengthening-Communities-with-Neighborhood-Data

324 Strengthening Communities with Neighborhood Data
characteristics in 2000. 9 This is a new, very important feature of this
typology; it can reveal a great deal about neighborhoods’ dynamics of
change, and it helps identify which types are more likely to change over
time and transition to other types.
Structure
Figure 7.1.1 summarizes the structure of the typology. The figure is a heat
map, a technique first developed as a DNA mapping application in the
genome project, where it was used to examine how different groups of
genes correlate with various physical traits. The same technique is applied
here to display how neighborhoods are grouped together according to
their score on the 23 different variables selected as key determinants of
neighborhood type. What makes this application particularly useful here
is that it works well when multiple factors interact in complex ways, as in
the case of the various dimensions that determine neighborhood types.
The map can be interpreted as a grid in which each column is a census
tract and each row is a variable. Although shown in black and white
here, the heat map is presented in shades of blue and red in the DNT
final report. The score of each tract on the variables listed to the left of
Figure 7.1.1. Typology Heat Map
Single-Family Housing
Home Ownership
Moved in Over 10 Years Ago
Population Age 65+
Land Use: Residential
Income Diversity
Median Income
Population Age 35–64
Population Age 0–18
Single Parent Households
Land Use: Vacant
Vacant Housing Units
Age of Housing Stock
Social Capital
Land Use: Industrial
Entertainment Venues
Retail Concentration
Services Concentration
Regional Business
Retail Diversity
Population Age 19–34
Moved in Less Than 5 Years Ago
Foreign Born