A Comparison of New York City's Working Class Settlement in 1940 To Burgess' Concentric Zone Theory

Abstract

<p> The patterns of working class settlement for New York City were established using occupation statistics found within the 1940 census. The health areas of the city's boroughs were shaded based on location quotients. Location quotients were calculated for craftsmen, operatives and labourers individually and then as a group, defining the term "total working class". The urban structure of New York City, presented in the four maps of working class settlement, failed to show the existence of five distinct concentric areas which Burgess identified in Chicago in 1925. The complicated topography, peripheral location of manufacturing industries, and lack of evenly dispersed transportation modes and bridges have contributed to the unique arrangement of settlement in New York City. </p>