Week 2

If I were making the decision of where to locate my middle income family of four, there clearly would be numerous influences shaping that decision. The quality of education offered in various parts of the city would be a major driver. While the quality of public schools would definitely be important, I would also take into consideration the quality of culture offered. I believe that culture is nearly as important in the education process as the actual schooling itself. I know whole-heartedly that I will raise my children in an dense urban area that can offer education on a daily basis through the culture, art, music, and diversity of residents. Suburban enclaves suffocate creativity and act as a buffer between residents and the happenings of the real world. Due to the "central place theory" there is simply more to offer in the center of a city than on the outskirts or suburbs.

In addition to providing the cultural education I desire for my children, having the option of walking down the street to the market or a few blocks to the public transit system a very important to me. To make a well thought out decision, I would need to consider the downfalls of living in the city and compare them with the option of suburban life. Realizing that often, the public school systems in cities are of lower quality than those in the suburbs, I would have to consider the cost of private education. As a middle income family, most likely the cost would be out of our budget and would require cuts elsewhere in our spending plan. I would use the bid-rent curve to my advantage in this instance; with public transit much more readily available in the city, I could put the money saved in transportation costs towards the cost of private schooling. 

Another common criticism of urban living for families is that children need areas to run and play, and unless one is a tremendously wealthy and can afford a condo next to Central Park, the options are slim to none. In order to address this problem as a middle income family, again we would need to make changes to our living plan. I would choose to reside in a small modest apartment/condo within a five minute walk to a small park. I believe that the availability of museums, neighborhood parks, theaters, and events would outweigh the stereotypical suburban mansion on a full acre of green grass, and that by giving up the extra space available in the suburbs, we would gain the quality of life I would be striving for. 

While I don't know how well the concentric zone model applies to cities today, if I were to apply the model to New York City, I would suppose that the central business district would be manhattan in general, while the "factory zone" would be Brooklyn or Queens. the "zone of transition" and"working class" zones would be Jersey City and Newark, and the commuter zone would be everywhere beyond that. While I can dream of living in Manhattan in Chelsea or Harlem, in reality as a middle income family that would not be likely. I would have to most likely move somewhere such as Brooklyn. There are many really great neighborhoods there that would be ideal for my living situation and desires. It seems odd to consider these areas "factory zones" but at one time they were. Gentrification has taken its course throughout Manhattan and is spreading rapidly through these further boroughs, but using the Burgess model of concentric zoning, I guess I will have to say that I would chose to raise my middle income family in the "factory zone" (a nice neighborhood in Brooklyn).