Differing Personal Maps of Denver

For a recent article in the Denverite, multimedia artist Kevin Beaty drew a variety of "mental maps" based on interviews with neighborhood residents.

Many of the maps focus on the Five Points neighborhood, an area that has shifted from various European immigrant groups, to a predominantly African-American neighborhood, to an area seeing significant gentrification. The neighborhood was once known as the Harlem of the West. The map above was based on 1950's era recollections of the area from brothers Ralph and Charles Dabney. They grew up there eating pig ear sandwiches and visiting their father at the firehouse.

It is interesting to see how the maps change with the age, race, economic status and occupation of the residents. Here is Beaty's map rendering from Yvette Freeman, a younger Black resident.

By contrast here is a map from white resident Heather Dalton, who has spent time in the neighborhood but probably did not grow up there.

Finally, here is a rendering of a developer's take on the neighborhood.

For many more maps see the Denverite.