http://www.straightdope.com/columns/991105.html
OK, so the south side isn’t always the worst part of town, as Cecil proves in the penultimate paragraph. But the only example he gives of the worst part of town being on the north side of town is Philadelphia, and I haven’t been there in a few years, but I can’t remember if anywhere outside Center City is really that great. Other than that, I could only think of these two examples from Industrialized nations (I’m not counting the Third World, because I bet every part of places like Calcutta is a dump):
Dublin, Ireland. The River Liffey divides the city in two, and the North side is notoriously bad.
Hartford, CT. Though few parts of this city are in good shape, the North side is where most of the gang activity takes place.
I’ve probably been to a lot of cities where the north side was the worst side of town, but I can’t remember any. I’m sure the Dopers out there will be able to find at least a few.
I went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Although not known as a large metro area, the “North side” of Champaign (the larger of the two towns) was known for its drugs, guns, and questionable characters. Several violent gang members migrated South from Chicago, and settled in this area in the '80s and early '90s. Most, if not all of the low-income housing projects are located on the North side of Champaign.
I’m glad zebra (and Cecil too) mentioned NYC. For whatever it’s worth, here’s a little NYC history lesson…
Though it’s long been forgotten, NYC once had an official “North Side.” You see, at one time NYC = only Manhattan Island. Then, in 1874 and 1895 the city annexed chunks of lower Westchester County. Collectively, this area became known as “the North Side” or “the Annexed District.” These were not informal designations; there was, for example, a North Side Board of Trade.
Then in 1898, when NYC consolidated huge tracts of real estate from neighboring municipalities (including two autonomous nearby cities – one of which was Brooklyn, I should add), it instituted today’s “Borough system.” The North Side became The Bronx.
Now, as to the unsavoriness of the North Side. Though it might shock today’s New Yorkers, the North Side – when it was called that back in the late 1800’s – was a bucolic summertime retreat. So much so, that when it was first annexed by NYC in 1874 it was put under the juristiction of the city’s Parks Department. Only many decades later, when it was universally called The Bronx, did the area decline into the rough and tough place that we know today.
I seem to remember a geography school lesson where the following reason was given for west-east differences in a city: with prevailing winds going west to east, during the height of the industrial revolution, smog from the factories made the east side of industrial cities less pleasant to live in, and the rich folks (who could afford it) moved to the west-end, leaving the poor folks (who couldn’t) in the smoggy east-end.
Certainly seems to apply to my own town (Glasgow) and also AFAIK to London. If I was more worldly I could give more examples
Seems like someone told me that the poles are reversed in Birmingham, Alabama, with the “bad” part of town being on the north side. I’m not familiar enough with Birmingham to confirm that, but maybe some Alabamians will come along with more info.
That makes a lot of sense. In the US, prevailing winds are from the northwest, meaning that the northwest side of town would be the most smog-free.
Interestingly, Birmingham, Alabama gets a fair amount of wind from the south (coming up from the Gulf of Mexico). If I’m correct about the south side of Birmingham being the good side, that might explain it.
There is another factor that might contribute to this phenomenon. Rivers run from north to south in the northern hemisphere. Cities dump a lot of pollution into their rivers, and the cleanest parts of these rivers usually command higher real estate prices. I know that here in Atlanta, the Chatahoochee is considerably cleaner on the north side (the “good side”) than it is on the south side (the “bad side”). No one wants to live downstream of the factory and waste treatment effluent.
It would be interesting to find out if first-world cities in the southern hemisphere have their “bad” sides in the north.
You’re right about Birmingham, Alabama–North Birmingham is pretty rough, as is West End, and the Gate City/East Lake part of town. The dividing line is pretty much Red Mountain–“over the Mountain” is perceived as being safer and includes the cities of Homewood, Mountain Brook, Vestavia, Hoover. In actuality, the crime stats for downtown Birmingham’s City Center area are about the same as those of the suburban areas south of town, and the perception is slowly changing, but there are still those who wouldn’t come downtown, no matter what.
Early suburban areas did take advantage of the better microclimate over on the south side of the mountain. Jones Valley, where Birmingham is centered, tends to hold in smog and heat. Birmingham is no where near as polluted as in the 1940s to the '70s, but we still have our share of non-compliance days for ozone due to auto traffic and the way the valley is shaped.
The western end of town has always had the heaviest concentration of industry (and the north to a slightly lesser degree), and Village and Valley Creeks both flow from east to west, so everything upstream ended up in the West End area, too.
Geographically, the northern part of the Bronx is the northern part of New York City, and it resembles the Westchester suburbs surrounding it. Anyone who has taken the New England Thruway into New York City knows that it takes a while to see skyscrapers. So the bad side of town in New York City is NOT the northern part, rather various centrally located parts (South Bronx, Harlem, parts of Western Brooklyn).
Jacksonville FL: northside used to be vibrant and lively before the movie folks discovered CA and the jazz artists moved north. The rich sections of town are along the river and out by the beach - probably they moved to get away from those jazzy and decadent movie folks [the town leaders basically killed the movie industry here because of the “morality” issue]. Southside is now the magnet for housing developments.
No, rivers run from high ground to low ground, in either hemisphere.
Cleveland is a bit of an odd case, I suppose, if we’re trying to find physical explanations. The prevailing winds are from the North, off the lake, but the southern parts of town are no worse off than anywhere else. The river does run south to north, but most of the heavy polluters are close to the lake, so there’s not really any area that’s downstream. Long ago in the days of Rockefeller and Carnegie, the East Side was the location of Millionaire’s Row, allegedly so the big businessmen wouldn’t have the sun in their eyes going to or from work, but that hardly explains why the East Side would be the poor side today.
Myself? I’m going to go with the “random chance” explanation. The cases where it looks like it’s due to a river, or prevailing winds, or whatnot may well be coincidences (not too unlikely, if you have enough potential explanations).
You know, for some reason I thought river direction had to do with the earth’s spin and they tended to flow in the direction of the equator. Learn (or, in this case unlearn) something everyday. Found this at NASA’s site:
"So, there are indeed big rivers that flow to the north, as well as to the east, west and south. Why is it then that we think that few rivers flow to the north? Part of the answer is probably related to our geographic chauvinism and our lack of curiosity - we don’t know much or care about distant places. In the contiguous U.S., since there are no major rivers that flow northward, we’re convinced that this must be the way it is elsewhere. In Europe, where rivers such as the Rhine flow north from the Alps through densely populated areas of Germany, France and the Netherlands and then to the North Sea, the question of whether or not there are many north flowing rivers would be less likely to arise."
O.K. so I’m an American chauvinist. Regardless, this trend of the bad side of town being south might have to do with river direction (at least in the contiguous U.S).
But what do I know?
-Beeblebrox
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
In Wichita Falls, Texas, the East Side is considered the “bad” side. But what’s called the East Side is actually more Northeast than anything.
Palpatine: “It’s not the East or the West side.”
Vader: “No, it’s not!”
Palpatine: “It’s not the North or the South side.”
Vader: “No, it’s not!”
Palpatine: “It’s the Dark Side!”
Vader: You are correct!"
Palpatine: “Can’t front on the Empire! To all you Vader-haters out there – We’ll blow your planet up!”
