CityLab Daily: Can Commuter Patterns Reveal a Better Electoral Map?

  1. Andrew Small

Also: The geography of Millennial talent, and the next test for bail reform.

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What We’re Following

Draw the lines: When it comes to gerrymandering, it can be maddeningly difficult to measure if congressional districts respect “communities of interest,” as many states require. But what if the answer lies in a simple, mappable thing most people do every day? On CityLab, geographer Garrett Dash Nelson makes the case that commuting patterns could hold the key to a better electoral map.

See for yourself: By Nelson’s measurements, Indiana (left) scores highly, with many commutes beginning and ending in the same congressional district. But it’s another story for Rhode Island (right), where “a huge fraction of commuters live and work across district lines.”

"Eldridge score" maps
(Garrett Dash Nelson)

—Andrew Small

More on CityLab

The Geography of Millennial Talent

Millennials are more distributed across cities, suburbs, and exurbs than is commonly thought, but the clustering of college graduates does reinforce the country’s spatial inequality.

Richard Florida

The Next Test for Bail Reform: Prosecutors

Philadelphia’s district attorney ran on an agenda to reform his city’s criminal justice system. Now he’s starting to with a new policy on bail. The question is: Can it work?

Teresa Mathew

Surviving the Waiting Game for Housing Aid

For families in St. Louis, even the threat of budget cuts means dramatic consequences for housing aid. For people on the waitlist, it’s even worse.

Caitlin Lee and Clark Randall

Paris's Answer to Silicon Valley Is Inside a Refurbished Train Depot

Open since last summer, Station F wants to cultivate a more inclusive and diverse version of American-style entrepreneurship in France.

Marie Doezema

Lyft Will Offer Free Rides to Anti-Gun Rallies

It’s a savvy move for a company that’s determined to be the ride-hailing choice of a younger generation.

Laura Bliss

Map of the Day

Tweet from Simon Kuestenmacher

Where we’re going, we will need roads. Geographer Simon Kuestenmacher surfaced this map of the world as covered by Google Street View, via Reddit. You’ll notice that entire countries are missing, including India, which denied permission to the mapping project back in 2016. CityLab refresh: What Google Street View can tell you about how your neighborhood votes.

What We’re Reading

Hundreds of NYPD officers committed serious offenses and kept their jobs (BuzzFeed)

Can manufactured housing help ease America’s affordable housing crisis? (Curbed)

Is Elon Musk tunneling into the past, not the future? (Fast Company)

This data shows that school segregation is getting worse (Vox)

Add to bucket list: “Last chance” travel for disappearing marvels (New York Times)

Tell your friends about the CityLab Daily! Forward this newsletter to someone who loves cities and encourage them to subscribe. Send your own comments, feedback, and tips to hello@citylab.com.

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