Neighborhoods Introduction

Editor Note:  This is the first post in a series about neighborhoods  

Lately I've been interested in neighborhoods and how they are defined.  There are many ways people reference what part of a city they live in.  Some example includes: street intersections, local features, or neighborhoods. 

In the city of Portland there are over 90 neighborhood associations.  Each  representing a unique area of the city.  For more information visit https://www.portlandoregon.gov/oni/28385.  In larger cities neighborhoods help give people a sense of community.  Having neighborhoods association help business and individuals plan how their community grows. Typically the neighborhoods also have an important and interesting history.

 There are many ways to define neighborhoods and sometime these definitions can cause confusion.     For example I live in a neighborhood of Portland called Montavilla.  The map below is an outline of the neighborhood based on the neighborhood association  boundary.  

The above image is a map depicting the boundary of the Montavilla Neighborhood .  This map cab be found at https://www.portlandoregon.gov/oni/48330  

In my mind Montavilla is much smaller than this map.  I personally wouldn't describe 86th AVE and Division as part of my neighborhood, but it is part of the the official Montavilla Association neighborhood.  There are also some areas of Portland that people refer to using other names then their "official"  neighborhood name.  For example Mall 205, and Gateway are used all the time to reference an area along I 205 and the I 84 intersection. 

Over the next few weeks I want explore the idea of neighborhoods and peoples perspective on neighborhoods.  I also will be writing about   the history of a few select neighborhoods and how that history formed the community and influenced its boundaries.