Purpose

This web map will be based on the influential report by David Hulchanski - The Three Cities within Toronto: Income Polarisation Among Toronto’s Neighbourhoods, 1970-2005. Using GIS, Hulchanski deduced that subway lines in Toronto have strongly influenced the movement of people based on income class. He argues that there are three cities within Toronto that are defined by their individual income. More specifically, overtime,Toronto has become increasingly polarised, with Toronto’s middle class disappearing almost entirely. You can read the full article here.

However, rather than mimicking Hulchanski’s work, our focus will be to critique and improve the visualisation of this data. We hope that by doing this, a nuanced story will reveal more complex patterns of income distribution over time. To tackle this, we will use a 3D API for the web map, various analysis techniques and utilise web map interactivity. You can view our full report here.

Mapping income is a significant indicator of the distribution of wealth within Toronto and surrounding metropolitan areas. Regions with higher or lower concentrations of poverty or wealth can be identified and visualized. Using a web map medium to present this data enables users to gain a higher level of comprehension, with interactivity and dynamic actions. Pushing these resources online can contribute to open access data and higher transparency of data usage.