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See Manhattan's Wealth Inequality Visualized In 3D Maps
By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 18, 2013
Modified Aug 18, 2013
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Aug 18, 2013
Modified Aug 18, 2013
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Manhattan is a world in which the middle class is defined as someone making $235K a year. It's very special indeed, especially for the few people left who can afford property. Artist and web researcher Nickolay Lamm decided to visualize the extent of wealth inequality in the neighborhoods of Manhattan with a series of 3D maps.
As for how the graph works: the data on income was collected from ArcGIS. If one neighborhood has a net worth of $500K, then the height of the 3D bar was 5 cm. If the neighborhood has a net worth around $50K, it would be .5 cm. "I thought to myself, what if you could actually see inequality? This relatively even landscape would look much different," he told the Daily Mail.
A few years ago, graphic designer Kelli Anderson produced a slightly different map illustrating income inequity using data culled from the Wall Street Journal. "The American Dream suggests that if you work hard enough, you can achieve it," he added. "However, it's clear that the landscape in order to achieve that dream is not as even and equal as it appears on the surface." Check out more graphs here.
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inequality
manhattan
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nickolay lamm
wealth
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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