Lab 4 Final Analysis
Q: What is affordability measuring and why is it a better indicator of housing affordability than housing cost alone?
Housing affordability takes into account income as well as dwelling value. When choosing the data, we combined median value of dwelling and median family income. If you only choose housing costs, you have no idea how much money is spent relative to how much money someone earns. For example, minimum wages vary for different provinces or states, and that would not be reflected if you only selected housing cost.
Q: What are the housing affordability rating categories? Who determined then and are they to be trusted?
The rating categories are part of the classification of data, and are controlled by the author of the map. The author can choose how many classes they wish to show, as well as which method of classification they wish to use. In playing around with changing these variable, you can get very different maps that show inherently different views of “affordability”. You can see this in Vancouver’s Mean Dwelling Classification Comparison. In choosing different means of classification, different views of affordability is created. In essence, all methods of classification are true, because they follow a mathematical method however, an author can strategically choose a certain method to artificially make more or less space look affordable. When reading a map you should always be critical and aware, not necessarily mistrusting.
Q: Is affordability a good indicator of a city’s liveability?
It can be however it leaves a lot of information out. For instance, how many people retired in or had to leave Vancouver in order to Vancouver? What are the demographics of the city and the labor breakdown? What is the average amount of work hours in a week? Additionally, how many people work in Vancouver but don’t live there or vice versa? When comparing income and dwelling value, it can give you a basic picture, but it does not include everything. Liveability should also include a certain degree of happiness or comfort.
Here you can find a map of Vancouver vs. Ottawa’s Affordability.