Why every map looks the same

Originally posted on Issue №11 — February 2023

As Black History month comes to an end, it’s worth exploring one of the truths that cut across all our work at Neighborhood Nexus. Living at the intersection of data and equity, what we see over and over is that it doesn’t take more than a couple of maps of Atlanta to realize they all look the same.

No matter the indicator — maternal health, third-grade reading, median income, asthma, life expectancy, whatever — there will almost always be a clear divide that tracks with our region’s racial segregation. Why is that? Well, it’s worth noting — because we get the question a lot — that it certainly isn’t for any reason intrinsic to segments of our population. This racial segregation and subsequent disparate community outcomes are products of systems that historically and presently create inequities.

It won’t fit in a single paragraph here, but this history tracks back to centuries of colonization and slavery and more recently includes redlining beginning in the 1930s; midcentury urban renewal that displaced Black communities and gutted business districts, including the construction of freeways and stadiums; private sector housing practices; and perpetual multisector disinvestment in Black communities that limit access and infrastructure.

So, while community data are essential to guiding programs for the right people in the right places at the right scale, they also represent outcomes of historic inequities — products of man-made systems that we must be willing to reimagine.

Read more about the State of Black Georgia with essays from issue experts in Urban League of Greater Atlanta’s new report.