Favored Quarters

[Sol]

Inspired by Palandio's post in the progressive moderate thread, I figured it'd be good to analyze how favored quarter vote/have swung. I think it'd be best to first find what exactly are the 50 largest cities' cities favored quarters, so that then we can go in on their voting patterns.

NYC--not clear if there is a favored quarter. Maybe an argument for Westchester?
LA--Western LA (Malibu, Beverly Hills, etc.)
Chicago--North Side
Dallas-Fort Worth--North Side
Houston--West Side
DC--West/northwest Side
Miami--not clear to me--possibly the east/areas along the coast?
Philadelphia--West side/Main Line
Atlanta--North Side
Phoenix--North Side
Boston--Northwest Side
San Francisco--Not an obvious favored quarter?
Detroit--not super clear, maybe an argument for the NW?
Seattle--not sure--maybe Eastern?
Minneapolis--Western
San Diego--Northern
Tampa--Southern
Denver--Southern
St. Louis--Western
Baltimore--Northern
Charlotte--Southern
Orlando--Tbh I don't know Orlando well enough to say--it seems very jumbled?
San Antonio--Northern
Portland--Western
Sacramento--Eastern? Another city I don't know as well as I should
Pittsburgh--not a clear favored quarter--the geography is too chaotic for one.
Las Vegas--Northwest? Seems very jumbled.
Austin--West
Cincinnati--Eastern/northeastern
Kansas City--Southwest
Columbus--Northern
Indianapolis--Northern
Cleveland--Eastern (with a rather interesting pattern--the favored quarter is surrounded by poorer majority Black areas)
Nashville--Southwest
Hampton Roads--seems fairly jumbled, in line with the multinodal nature of the cities.
Providence--Not sure (not that knowledgeable about RI, apologies)
Milwaukee--Northern
Jacksonville--Southeastern
OKC--Northwestern
Raleigh--Northern
Memphis--Eastern
Richmond--Northwestern
New Orleans--Western
Louisville--Northeastern
SLC--Eastern
Hartford--Western
Buffalo--Northeastern
Birmingham--Southeast

[Sol]

You can see here the relative common-ness of Western favored quarters, which has been oft-discussed due to Western areas being upwind of industry. 17 of the top 50 cities have their favored quarters to the west in some way (unless I miscounted).

Interestingly, as discussed in the other threads, Northern favored quarters are very common, without an obvious explanation, with 18 of the cities included (double counting NW favored quarters). There doesn't seem to be an obvious explanation for this, and I'm curious if it's just a coincidence or the result of some other factor.

[Sol]

You can see here the relative common-ness of Western favored quarters, which has been oft-discussed due to Western areas being upwind of industry. 17 of the top 50 cities have their favored quarters to the west in some way (unless I miscounted).

Interestingly, as discussed in the other threads, Northern favored quarters are very common, without an obvious explanation, with 18 of the cities included (double counting NW favored quarters). There doesn't seem to be an obvious explanation for this, and I'm curious if it's just a coincidence or the result of some other factor.

Midwestern theory might be summer vacation retreat?

Hmm, maybe. In a lot of cases it makes sense--like Chicago for example the lakeshore runs slightly diagonal, so the North is also slightly west--so you're upwind and you have waterfront property.

[Sol]

You can see here the relative common-ness of Western favored quarters, which has been oft-discussed due to Western areas being upwind of industry. 17 of the top 50 cities have their favored quarters to the west in some way (unless I miscounted).

Interestingly, as discussed in the other threads, Northern favored quarters are very common, without an obvious explanation, with 18 of the cities included (double counting NW favored quarters). There doesn't seem to be an obvious explanation for this, and I'm curious if it's just a coincidence or the result of some other factor.

Midwestern theory might be summer vacation retreat?

My guess is that winds in those areas usually blow from north to south, resulting in better air quality to the north of the city and worse to the south of the city. When suburbanization/White flight occurred post WWII, most of the White urban professionals moved to the north where the air quality was more pleasant.

White suburbanization did occur mostly post World War 2, however these favored quarters are from the 19th century as these were the early Rich groups.

How early in the 19th century? 1875 then air pollution might've been an issue still. 1825 then I have no idea.

It's kind of a path dependence as well--once an area gets a reputation for being desirable the wealthy will naturally continue to flock to it, even if the original factor is no longer relevant.

[Sol]

I’m not familiar with every single city here, but some of these regions seem way too broad and could be better targeted by neighborhood or zip code (I had a similar issue with Blairite’s thread on the same subject). Even in relatively affluent areas there is a large amount of socioeconomic diversity.

I guess, but I'd say this is a little more broadly targeted?

For example, there are definitely fairly poor or middle class sections of Chicago in the North Side, and there are absolutely rich sections of the metro area outside of the favored quarter--jesus, look at Naperville! However, if you look at income maps of the region, you get a classic radiating wedge appearance where a large chunk of the richest communities in a metro area are in it.

[Sol]

For New York, it is quite difficult to establish one. You have the Upper East Side and Upper West Side in Manhattan, but to link them with the wealthy suburban sections of Westchester (lfromnj is right that the east of the county is the wealthiest part, e.g. Rye, although the single wealthiest town is Bronxville in the south-centre, which is more of a conservative WASPy place along the lines of Darien or New Canaan) and Fairfield County, you have to go through the South Bronx (which is home to the poorest congressional district in the nation). Then of course you have other disconnected wealthy places on Long Island (many of which, such as Oyster Bay and Locust Valley, are still Republican) and in NJ.

The north also looks even weaker as a possibility when you turn back the clock fiftie-ish years to the Upper West Side of mid-20th century, which was pretty darn poor. Peggy Olson's apartment in a dangerous area on Mad Men is now in a very rich area.

[Sol]

Kind of irrelevant but I'm Italian so why not. The eight largest cities in Italy:

Turin: East side i.e. the nice hilly right bank of the River Po. Extends to the suburbs - Pino Torinese is in the top 10 richest municipalities in Italy. [also the historic centre and the immediately southward neighbourhood Crocetta, but that's less notable]
Genoa: East coast, especially near East (Albaro), plus the 19th century additions immediately north/east of the historic centre. It's absurdly clear. [the medieval centre itself is notably quite poor instead]
Milan: It doesn't exist, actually. Wealth pretty much decreases radially away from the centre.
Bologna: South side i.e. again, the nice hilly side - the very name of the neighbourhood is Colli (Hills). Starting out from the historic centre.
Florence: Unclear? It's easier to identify a "non-favoured quarter", which is the West side.
Rome: Near North side. Not the only place (there is also e.g. EUR, the home of the corporations, to the south) but overall it's fairly clear. Bougie Roma Nord vs. proletarian Roma Sud is a pretty famous meme. [the actual #proletariat lives outside the Great Ring Junction, but that's beside the point]
Naples: Near West side, though it's a bit complicated to describe because it has an extension protruding on the coast (Posillipo).
Palermo: Can't find any proper data, but I suspect it's something like centre-to-North-side.

Speaking of hills, they are a very obvious place for wealthy neighbourhoods to be - in London, Richmond, Wimbledon, Hampstead and Highgate are all on hills. In terms of the US, LA and San Francisco immediately spring to mind as having a similar situation (and Portland, IIRC?) - any other US examples?

Pittsburgh, interestingly is sort of the opposite, though it isn't a perfect correlation. Some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city, like the Hill District or Glen Hazel, are in hillier areas. The correlation isn't perfect though.

[Sol]

The city I live in, Durham NC, has sort of a favored quarter to the Northwest (though it isn't really a perfect example, and it's also thrown off by the fact that much of the development in the area is to the south of the city). However, a lot of the income patterns overall are clearly influenced by elevation--richer white areas tend to be in the city's relatively low hills, while the gullies tend to be traditionally poorer and Black. This is ofc a bit complicated by Durham's history of white flight and then gentrification, but the pattern has been surprisingly resilient.

[Sol]

Some NC Favored Quarters:

Greensboro: Northwest
Winston-Salem: West-southwest
Asheville: South
Fayetteville: West, but some outer western suburbs are a bit more working class
Wilmington: Eastwards, towards the beach?

[Sol]

Do folks know if Honolulu has one?