3R
Transit in an Ethnic Enclave
In February 2004, the MTA re-opened the north tracks of the Manhattan Bridge with new service patterns. This resulted in the ability to have a one-seat express ride from Chinatown in Manhattan to the Southern Brooklyn
neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Dyker
Heights. In the decades since this service change, we
have observed a fraying of the once-clustered Chinatown
in Manhattan and the development of ethnic enclaves in
Southern Brooklyn.
Together with my teammates Sarah Abdallah and Zoe Lin, we identified clusters, compared similarity indices, and created a multi-modal service area to test how this transit development affected the Chinatown community. We then ran
a variety of metrics to understand the effects of this transit change over time. The results paint a
complicated picture on how various
measurements of life in the city have
affected the ethnic enclave near the foot
of the Manhattan Bridge. The new train patterns are clearly servicing
a greatly different Lower Manhattan,
one with higher property values, greater
connectivity to the city, and lower
percentage of immigrant residents.
Review a research poster here for quick information on the project, and a more thorough report here for a complete overview of the study.
