stuyguy’s thread about whether or not The Pentagon and The White House are official names reminded me of something I’ve always wondered about: to what extent are neighborhoods in a large city officially recognized by some authority or another?
For instance, everyone has heard of various neighborhoods in New York City: Greenwhich Village, Harlem, and so forth. Each neighborhood seems to have an official boundary.
I’m guessing neighborhoods developed informally (although I’d appreciate being corrected if they didn’t), but it seems as though boundaries are pretty formally recognized: a New Yorker (or a Chicagoan) can tell you exactly where a given neighborhood begins and ends. Did some city authority draw up a map at some point and officially recognize neighborhood boundaries?
Pittsburgh has dozens if not hundreds of neighborhoods. Some are official, some are not. This map, though hard to read, shows the neighborhoods and how they lie in relation to voting districts. Though they are mostly informal, people do use the neighborhood names to help orient themselves in the city.
This map, which is much better, shows the neighborhoods and links to higher resolution maps of each neighborhood.
In some cities, yes – I’ve seen some planning maps with such things on them. In other cities, no – I’ve seen feuds start in San Francisco because some property owners claim they’re in one neighborhood, and their neighbors insist that they’re in another neighborhood ("This is NOT “Outer Sunset,” it’s “Lower Twin Peaks!” “There is no ‘Lower Twin Peaks,’ and this entire street is as flat as your brainwaves!”
I don’t know if Chicago’s neighborhoods are “official” or “understood”. Anyone?
I must also point out that some neighborhood names are used to identify the local post office; while that has nothing to do with boundaries, it does enshrine the names themselves.
In NYC the neighborhoods are not official. In many cases they come from the names of former municipalities (especially in Queens) but the smallest form of local government is at the borough level.
Minneapolis has implemented a Neighborhood Revitalization Program, which includes 81 neighborhoods. Each neighborhood has a neighborhood organization, elects a board, and participates in “a Neighborhood Action Plan — a multi-year, neighborhood-based plan that identifies the visions, goals, objectives, and strategies that will address neighborhood priorities and direct the expenditure of NRP funds.” Several neighborhoods publish newsletters, and some maintain their own websites. When the City’s wards were redistricted after the 2000 census, following neighborhood boundaries was one factor that the Redistricting Commission took into account.
In Philly, Germantown was at one time an independent town and at one point annexed into Philadelphis. And in Pittsburgh, the North Side neighborhoods used to be Allegheny City, but again, about 100 years ago, annexed into the bigger city. I would imagine this has happened elsewhere.