Since 2005, Columbia University’s Spatial Information Design Lab has been exploring the geography of incarceration. In their project The Pattern, the Columbia University team looks at the relationship between impoverished communities and their physical infrastructure, racial make-up, community investment, and incarceration. The Design Lab’s resulting maps are fascinating explorations of how we have not only spatially concentrated poverty, but how this oversaturation then contributes to scores of spill-over effects that cost society billions of dollars.
The project begins with a map of poverty in New York City:
A detail of the (above) map of poverty is below:
Below is a map of New York City’s communities with concentrated incarceration rates:
A detail of the (above) map of incarceration is below:
Below, the Spatial Information Design Project shows expenditures on incarceration – how much money is spent to incarcerate people from various New York Neighborhoods:
A detail of the (above) map of prison expenditures is below:
To read the report and note how similar the patterns are in city, after city, after city in America, see:
Harlem’s Ginger Beer
If you like ginger beer, Karl Franz Williams is ready to serve up his ginger beer that is currently celebrating it’s first anniversary.
Williams is a veteran in the beverage industry (having worked at Pepsi) but he’s now focused on his bar and ginger beer that was inspired by his grandfather’s love for fresh juices. This reimagined ginger beer is named after his grandfather — known to the family as Uncle Waithley.
“It makes me really proud just to see that legacy that my grandfather left and he gave me,” Williams said. “Developing this idea of taking care of yourself and living well that was important to him and that passed down from my father to me.”
He says “Uncle Waithleys” is now available in supermarkets like Whole Foods — but fast forward to a busy night at his bar he says watching people enjoy his ginger beer gives him the most pleasure.
To see the Spectrum news article, click here: