Understanding

the Arts, Entertainment & Recreation Sector Working Class

in the City Of New York
Livie Li (sl4215)
Shulin Zhang (sz2585)

PLAN4578: Geographic Information System Lab Section 3
Professor Leah Meisterlin
December 11th, 2017
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Contents

Introduction ................................................................... 2

About the Research ........................................................ 3

............................................................ Research Question 3

.......................................................................... Scope 3

........................................................................ Limitations 3

Methodoloy .................................................................... 3

Research Findings ........................................................... 4

.................................. Distribution of Sector Professionals 4

... Income Level, Housing Cost, Renter-Occupied Housing 5

..... Reclassified Kernel Density Map for Cultural Facilities 6

...................................... Network & Service Area Analysis 7

......................................................... Subway Accessibility 8

Conclusion ...................................................................... 9

Reference ..................................................................... 10

....................................................................... Data Source 10

...................................................................... Bibliography 10

Appendix ...................................................................... 11

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Introduction
In urban studies theorist Richard Florida’s book The Rise of the Creative Class (2004), it is asserted that the economy is
transforming, and the creativity is the driving force of economic transformation, the foundation of the “new economy”.
In the article Cities and the Creative Class (2003), he also argues that diversity and creativity are the “basic drivers of
innovation and regional and national growth.” (3) The definition of the creative class given by Florida is that “its
members engage in work whose function is to create meaningful new forms” （8）. To be more specific, the creativity
class includes those scientists, engineers, university professors, poets, arts, entertainers, actors, designers, architects,
and others. The core of the creative class is generating new thoughts and bringing them to the development of the city.
Following Florida’s emphasis on the importance of creative class for the prosperity and advancement of a city, and his
criteria for evaluating creative class, the Arts, Entertainment, and the Recreation sector professionals fall within the
category of creative class.

As Florida anticipated in his works, the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation sector has a growing significance in recent
years since the demand for this social role is increasing (PrimeGlobal). The chart below further demonstrates that the
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation sector has continuously grown in that its contribution to the Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) has been increasing. It is also estimated that the sector will develop rapidly, because "the rising incomes,
more leisure time, and growing awareness of the health benefits of physical fitness" (CollegeGrad) will increase the
demand for the services provided by the sector.

Meanwhile, this industry is characterized by a large number of seasonal and part-time jobs, most of the employees are
relatively young workers, and 37% of the workers do not have formal education beyond high school. The earnings of
these workers tend to be relatively low, according to studies, compared to the national level (CollegeGrad). Few studies
have explored the living environment characteristics of the art sector professionals. We believe this does not justify the
importance and contribution of this class of workers. To further our knowledge and understanding of the working class
of the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreational sector as a component of creative class, we made analysis on the
environment around their living spaces, in both economic and physical form.

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About the Research
Research Question
The research studies the surroundings of art-sector professionals living spaces, by accessing the relationship between
several demographic information and city facilities. The questions we try to answer from our study includes the
distribution of resident of this group and how this distribution is related to housing price of the census tract, median
income level of the area, their renting/buying behaviors in this city, their proximity and accessibility to artistic and
cultural facilities, and their accessibility to subway access.

Scope
The study area of our research is limited to the Manhattan Borough of the New York City. New York City includes a high
density of entertainment and cultural activities and tends to have a larger population working in the Arts,
Entertainment, and Recreation sector. We focus on the demographic information of this large group population,
including median income, median gross rent, housing behaviors in terms of renting or buying, then analyze and evaluate
the spatial relationship between arts-sector professionals living locations and cultural institutions as well as public
transportation, particularly subway, which according to statistics is the most popular way to commute for our studied
population. For cultural institutions, we specify the facilities as museums, galleries, classical music performance venue,
and theaters. In the end of this study, we will present our analysis for this population group of creative class, and
provide our reflection based on our map final outputs and corresponding findings.

Limitations
The study area of our research is specific to New York City Manhattan area. It is not representative for the entire United
States, because the Manhattan borough is an area with a very high density, so that the population here is more
inclusive, and the activities includes a wider range compared to the country. Moreover, the cost of both renting and
owning an apartment in Manhattan area is relatively high, imposing greater stress on the people working in the Arts,
Entertainment and Recreation sector. Data consulted are based on 2015 ACS census. As social structure and physical
condition might have changed in the past two years, the result of analysis might not be valid or relevant as time
progresses. Therefore, it is possible that the dataset we use is partial, and the final recommendations can be biased
based off of the conclusion we get from mapping.

Methodoloy
The research focuses on mapping data by using the ArcMap tool, and the Excel software to develop our understanding
of this group of population. The report maps out the dataset and overlays them to discuss the relationship between the
distributions of the subject elements. Graduate colors and symbols are employed to express the density of certain
components. The tools of kernel density raster, network study and service area are the key analytical tools utilized to
discuss the accessibility and distribution of cultural facilities and subway access. Selection tool, data joining tool as well
as reclassify tool will certainly be used for producing the output. Raster calculation, feature class to feature class,
establishing network dataset and some other tools will also be integrated in our study. See Appendix for detail step-by-
step methodology.

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Research Findings

Distribution of Arts, Entertainment, and Recreational-Sector Professionals

The working class of the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreational Sector are concentrated in the riverside of Upper West
Side, Inwood, Hudson Heights, East Harlem, Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, Washington Heights, and Lower East Side/East
Village.

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Income Level, Housing Cost, Renter-Occupied Housing

Most of the Arts, Entertainment, and Recreational Sector

professionals are located in neighborhoods of lower
income level, including Lower East Side, East Harlem,
and Upper Manhattan. This map suggests that, with
some exceptions, most people in the Arts,
Entertainment, and Recreational sector have annual
income that is lower than $9778. The art-sector
population cluster in neighborhoods with majority of
renter-occupied housing, the spatial relationship is quite
strong. These professionals are more likely to rent their
living spaces. Housing prices in these neighborhoods are
low, and most of them are surrounded by very high-
priced neighborhoods.

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Reclassified Kernel Density Map for Museums, Galleries, Theatres, and Classical Music Perform
Venues

Museums Galleries All Cultural Institutions

Theaters Music Performance Venues

AER population in Manhattan is not concentrated in the

regions where museums, theatres, and music
performance venues are densely located in. Density of
galleries, on the other hand, is high in most census tracts.
Although some AER population do live close to some of
these facilities, most of them are either not in the density
raster, or in the second or third raster-covered region. In
addition, a very small portion of this population is located
in the density raster for classical music performance
venues, which tend to cost more than other three kinds
of cultural facilities. This series of maps have suggested
that the cultural environment of the working class for the
Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation Sector, the so-called
“creative class” in Florida’s theory, are not satisfactory.

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Network & Service Area Analysis

Museums Galleries Music Performance Venues

Theaters

Galleries in Manhattan are located densely in Upper East Side, Midtown area, Chelsea, and SoHo,
the neighborhoods that are known to be high-end fashion districts with high-income residents.
Even though galleries are abundant across downtown, midtown, and uptown Manhattan, AER
people living in northern Manhattan (north of central park) are far from galleries, and very few
galleries are located up there. Approximately 1/3 of the total AER population are not within a
walkable distance of the galleries.

Given the scarcity of the Classical Music Perform Venues in Manhattan, compared to other cultural
facilities analyzed in this research work, there is a strong disparity between the distribution and
service area of the MPV and the AER population. Only two dots, meaning less than 1000 AER Sector
workers, have close proximity to the MPVs. Most of the AER population are not within very
walkable distance of the Classical Music Performance Venues.

Theatres are highly concentrated along the Broadway Performance District, and some scatter in
lower Manhattan, as the map tells, most of the AER population in Manhattan are not located in
walkable distance to the theatres. Moreover, even some of these professionals are within the
defined service area of the theatres, most of them are at the edges of the service areas.

Most of the AER population are not located in the walkable service area of museums, even they are
in Midtown, or lower east side. However, in Washington heights, it does show an aggregation of
the AER population and the cultural institutions, which is unexpected. The AER population that are
close to the museums are more likely to be located on the edges of the service areas.


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Subway Accessibility

Most of the AER population are

served by the subway, which
demonstrates that the coverage
of subway in Manhattan is quite
thorough, and its well design by
the MTA so that most of the
areas in Manhattan are not far
from the subway stations.
However, the AER population in
the Lower East Side (East Village)
and the West riverside area
between Pier 81 and Pier 97, are
not close to the subway stations,
evaluating base on walkable
service area.

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Conclusion

A distribution pattern is shown that the working class for the arts, entertainment, and cultural sector are more
likely to reside in census tracts that have lower income, lower housing price, and are more likely to be
occupied by renters. These professionals are populated in the Lower East Side, Upper West Side, and Upper
Manhattan including Washington Heights and Harlem. This indicates that people working in the Arts,
Entertainment, and Recreation sector earn a wage that is relatively lower, more likely to rent, and live in
lower-priced apartments. Even as a component of the rising creative class, this population's living
environment is not closed to the cultural institutions. Most of the studied population are not in areas where
cultural institutions are densely located, as they have to walk more than 1320 feet to get to these facilities, in
contrast to the cultural creativity this group of population bring to the city. In general, workers of this sector
population are living in a relatively disadvantaged environment that does not justify their career contribution
to the society. Given the extensiveness of the NYC metro system, most of the population have easy access to
subway stations.

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Reference

Data Source
New York City Department of City Planning. "New York City, MapPLUTO 16V2" [shapefile]. Bytes of the Big Apple, Issue
MapPLUTO16v2. 20 December 2016. <http://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/open-data/dwn-pluto-mappluto.page>

US Census Bureau. 2015 TIGER/Line Shapefiles “Census Tracts, New York State” [shapefile]. Accessed 2017.

New York City Department of City Planning. 2017. LION v17A. [ESRI File Geodatabase].
https://www1.nyc.gov/site/planning/data-maps/open-data/dwn-lion.page.

U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Table S2405 - INDUSTRY BY OCCUPATION FOR
THE CIVILIAN EMPLOYED POPULATION 16 YEARS AND OVER by census tract, New York County, New York State. [dataset].
Accessed via American FactFinder. 2017.

U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Table B25003 - Universe: Occupied housing
units by census tract, New York County, New York State. [dataset]. Accessed via American FactFinder. 2017.

U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Table DP03 - SELECTED ECONOMIC
CHARACTERISTICS by census tract, New York County, New York State. [dataset]. Accessed via American FactFinder. 2017.

U.S. Census Bureau, 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Table T104 - Median Gross Rent by census
tract, New York County, New York State. [dataset]. Accessed via American FactFinder. 2017.

New York City Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications. “DOITT CLASSICAL MUSIC” [shapefile] 27
September 2017. <https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Recreation/DOITT-CLASSICAL-MUSIC/txxa-5nhg>

New York City Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications. “New York City Art Galleries” [shapefile] 27
September 2017. <https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Recreation/New-York-City-Art-Galleries/tgyc-r5jh>

Broadway Theater. “Theatres” [shapefile] 29 September 2017. <https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Recreation/Theaters/kdu2-

865w>

New York City Department of Information Technology & Telecommunications. “New York City Museums” [shapefile] 27
September 2017. <https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Recreation/New-York-City-Museums/ekax-ky3z>

New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) “SUBWAY LINES” [shapefile] 29 September 2017.
<https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Transportation/Subway-Lines/3qz8-muuu/data>

New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) “Subway Station” [shapefile] 29 September 2017.
<https://data.cityofnewyork.us/Transportation/Subway-Stations/arq3-7z49/data>

Bibliography
"Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation Industries." Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation Industries: Career, Outlook and
Education Information -CollegeGrad.com. Accessed November 08, 2017.

"An Independent Association of Global Accounting Firms." PrimeGlobal. Accessed November 08, 2017.

Florida, Richard. "Cities and the Creative Class." City & Community. January 22, 2003. Accessed December 02, 2017.

doi: Florida, Richard. The Rise of Creative Class. S.l.: Basic Books, 2004.

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Appendix

Visual/Demographic Analysis
•Retrieve the data from the 2015 ACS Survey Data Collection and shapefiles from NYCOpendata.

•Join these groups of tables to the shapefile of Manhattan Census Tract, which is also extracted from the New York City
Census Tract Shapefile, by using the GEO.ID from both files.

•Compare criteria levels with the concentration of the art-sector professionals to find the relation between the
distribution of the working class for the arts, entertainment, and cultural sector and the housing price, income level, and
behaviors of renter/owner occupied of census tracts.

Spatial Analysis
•The tool of Kernel Density is used to visualize the distribution of the cultural institution, including museums, art
galleries, classical music, and theatres, and their density.

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•The output cell size and search radius are set by default according to ArcMap. Symbology is then modified with hill-
shading effect and graduated color by four quintiles.

•The reclassify tool gives value from 0-3 to raster value categorized to four quintiles, with 0 raster value indicating that
no cultural institutions are within the area.

•Raster calculation to add the value to reclassified raster data, and then have the final map with raster of value from 0 to
12.

•Add the layer of the study population and investigate if there is a relationship between these two datasets.

Network & Service Area Analysis

•A new feature dataset is created. Import the Manhattan Streets that is extracted from NYC LION file by doing “selection
by location”, and the data set of subway station dataset, and the Manhattan cultural institutions location.

•Build a network dataset based on the Manhattan Street file. To develop service area analysis, employ the "Make Service
Area Layer" under Network Analyst Tools, and then build service area by break value of 660, 1320, and 1980 feet. These
three thresholds are used because the distance around a quarter of mile is accepted to most people as a walking
distance.

•After the service area is established, add location of subway station and cultural institutions' location separately to get
the service area of subway station and cultural institutions.

•Add the layer of the study population and investigate if there is a relation between these datasets of these layers.