Link to PDF of full resolution map images for Final Map and 5 Initial forces
For my final map I wanted to demonstrate how Downtown Santa Ana is an area of the city full of contradictions: of conflicting, competing and complementary forces. Santa Ana is the county seat for Orange County. The Civic center area in downtown contains a number of government buildings: Court houses, federal buildings, city hall, hall of record, jails, and police headquarters. This means people from all over orange county come into downtown to work as government employees or lawyers, serve on juries, and or to handle other government business. Santa Ana is also ground zero for the homeless problem in Orange county, because the civic center area is public land the homeless have set up encampments in this area with little resistance. To alleviate the problem the city has repurposed an abandoned transit center and made it into a year-round homeless shelter with a capacity for 400 people. I also counted those in the jails among the homeless, while they are not out on the street, I think of being in jail as a form of homelessness. I did this also to highlight the statistic that those released from jail are at a higher risk of becoming homeless on the streets, and also the homeless are at a higher risk of being incarcerated. I represented the civic center as a solid yellow surrounding line because generally the people who come to this area generally stay in this area, probably because they are hesitant to explore other areas of downtown due to perceived danger. Probably as a result of this the city has installed a number of 10 foot high surveillance/assistance poles (I’ve counted 7) with video camera monitoring of the area, with a help button and an intercom system to communicate with the central command center.
I wanted to highlight walkable and congregating nature of downtown as part of my Gathering force. Santa Ana is home to a number of public open-air plazas, performance areas, and food halls. Santa Ana is a city that celebrates with monthly art walks that take over some city streets, annual parades, including the OC LGBT pride parade, and 5K runs. The city has also installed walking path markers in the ground for a 1.5-mile route that highlights historic buildings and landmarks in low/slow traffic and monitored areas.
Santa Ana is also 78% Latino and to not represent the impact of their language on the space would leave out an important force. I added the force of Language and represented it not as who speaks it, but as the businesses and institutions (mainly restaurants, cafes, eateries, churches, retail stores, markets, clinics, salons) that cater to English speakers, Spanish speakers, or both. I judged each space by the signage and advertisements on display that could be seen while walking past it. I got rid of my Historical Architectural force because, it tells a story about the city through time and I’m more interested in the present state. I also got rid of the places of worship force but instead integrated those churches as institutions that cater to the local population in the same way retail and dining place do.
BONUS EXERCISE:
I really enjoyed this map! It is very thoughtfully constructed, informative, and illuminating. Based on what is only visible, it seems that there are more surveillance cameras in areas where there are “Spanish-speaking” businesses and more gathering spaces where there are “English speaking/mixed” businesses. Parsing out the governmental area from the rest of the community in Downtown Santa Ana highlights the disparity between the two regions. It is obvious from the map that homelessness and incarceration is a major concern for the city, especially when it is represented across gender lines. However, the government area is in sharp contrast to the social gatherings, vibrant businesses, ethnicities, and celebrations of a community (i.e. parade route) that are only a few blocks away. This is a unique map that offers a very stimulating, yet alarming perspective into a side of downtown Santa Ana that most people are not aware of or understand. Kudos on a great job!
Bonus Exercise
Hi Gary,
Overall, great improvements and I love the forces you chose to represent in your final map. Your map also tells me a lot of information that I did not know about Downtown Santa Ana.
My interpretations are below:
– You’ve included a map title which is great because it tells me exactly what area I’m looking at. I’ve noticed a few other individuals forgot this important step.
– The distinction between English and Spanish speakers depicts Santa Ana very well. It represents the diverse inhabitants of the Santa Ana community.
– The icons were helpful and the snapshot images of the spaces represented in the purple icons were very useful details to include.
– The map uses proper labeling, i.e. the yellow line for government spaces, the celebrate pink highlights, and the ride dotted line for the parade route.
– Without looking at the legend, I was unsure what the blue and red circles/pie charts represented. At first, I thought it was a distinction of political party affiliation.
There is a lot of frenetic energy in your map, Gary, which I think clearly conveys the contradictions you describe within the downtown area of Santa Ana. Spanish vs. English, the homeless population vs. businesses and gathering spaces, even public surveillance vs. privacy that we as individual citizens may assume we have, but perhaps don’t. I’m so curious about how the city is balancing the competing needs of the homeless against (or with) the needs of businesses that appear to be targeting a younger, more modern audience (as noticed in the photos of two of the gathering places in the top right quadrant of your map). I heard an NPR story last year about how librarians are having to be de facto public health workers because so many of the homeless population use their facilities. There is the problem of sanitation in the bathrooms, folks without access to proper hygiene areas and the empathy that the librarians have for women, families and those with mental illness.
When looking at the businesses who serve English and/or Spanish speaking audiences, it alludes to a sign of gentrification. I wonder which businesses were there first? Are the Spanish-speaking businesses being driven out? Or is it a case of “white flight” and the English business are leaving because of the influx of other cultures?
Overall, great provocative work, Gary!
This is great Gary. I love how you show the comparison in population between the women’s prison and men’s prison. The most interesting take away for me is that the data shows the men’s prison is more than 300% greater in terms of population compared to the women’s prison. For me this set’s a foundation for possible further studies to find out why this is the case. Is the women’s population much lower because of estrogen or is there an environmental element in the way women are treated in society compared to men?
Great job gary. This map has so much great data.
Manuel