What boundaries become apparent?

In particular, the boundary between North Baton Rouge and South Baton Rouge became very apparent in almost all of the population-related map layers. Whether in maps displaying race, education, income, access to resources, or unsuitable buildings, there is a clear disparity between South Baton Rouge and North Baton Rouge. In general, there were mostly African American and Asian people north of Florida Boulevard and mostly white people south of the boulevard; educational attainment levels (percent of the population in each census district who graduated high school) and median household income closely followed racial patterns, with higher percentages of those who did not complete high school and lower median household incomes in areas where African Americans reside with the opposite true in the majority of areas where white people reside. In addition, the majority of condemned buildings can be found in North Baton Rouge, with only a few in South Baton Rouge. When examining the layers of population distribution and hospital locations, many hospitals are clustered in areas of low population density, with the majority of hospitals falling below Florida Boulevard (Only six of the seventeen hospitals are north of or on Florida Boulevard.). 

What correlations can you draw?

The clearest correlations that I found were those between race, place of residence in the city, the median income of their district, and the educational attainment of their district. Generally, there was a positive correlation between African American populations living in north-bound districts with lower median incomes and higher levels of educational attainment. There was also a positive correlation between white populations residing in more southern districts with higher median incomes and lower levels of educational attainment. 

What boundary overlaps struck you as most intriguing and why?

I'm most fascinated by the Population Density + Hospital Location layers, as well as the  Median Household Income + Condemned Buildings layers and Median Household Income + Educational Attainment + Racial Boundaries layers. I think these layers are like jigsaw pieces that come together to form a completed puzzle of the Baton Rouge area. Each piece tells its own story, but each story is important to understanding the complicated, touchy racial, economic, and educational challenges the Baton Rouge population has faced in the past and is facing now. I think choosing just one piece to focus on doesn't relay the whole picture, and I think it's important to look at multiple layers so that all the perspectives possible can inform the viewer's opinion on the data in front of them. 

What do these maps tell us about Baton Rouge as a city?

They tell us that Baton Rouge may have declared racial equality a long time ago, but that we still have a long way to go before actual equality is secured. In future investigations, I'd like to look at Government Street in more detail. Government Street is one of the most intriguing streets in the city, in my opinion. Currently, it's going through a gentrification crisis of sorts as hip, millennial boutiques and restaurants flood one end of the street and downtown another. Past the facade of artistically crumbling walls, however, is a story of poverty. In the neighborhoods just past the street, many people, mainly African Americans, live in poverty, but with the area becoming more and more hip, there is an interesting dichotomy between "saving" an area that's fallen from great heights and "destroying" traditions and a neighborhood build on trust and long-time family. Other places I'd be interested in looking at are places with similar contrasts between populations who live there. For example, I'd like to look at the contrast between Bluebonnet Boulevard - a middle- to an upper-class neighborhood where bullets end up in squirrels and the stray possum - and Gardere, where bullets end up in people. Lastly, I'd like to look at the north end of LSU's campus; to the north, poverty reigns, but to the south the college-bound are immersed in knowledge, with only a plantation and a few restaurants bridging the gap between the two worlds. All of these places examine the intersection of poverty, race, access, and lifestyles of the people of Baton Rouge.