What is a neighborhood?

Where's Mr. Roger's when you need him?  Of course Mr. Rogers died a few years ago, may he rest in peace.

Neighborhood from TheFreeDictionary.com 

"neigh·bor·hood(nbr-hd)
n.
1. A district or area with distinctive characteristics: a neighborhood of fine homes; an ethnic neighborhood.
2. The people who live near one another or in a particular district or area: The noise upset the entire neighborhood.
3. The surrounding area; vicinity: happened to be in the neighborhood.
4. Informal Approximate amount or range: in the neighborhood of five million dollars.
5. Friendliness appropriate to a neighbor: a feeling of neighborhood.
6. Mathematics The set of points surrounding a specified point, each of which is within a certain, usually small distance from the specified point."

One of my least favorite paragraphs in a recent Columbus Dispatch article about Columbus being a safe housing market, one of the 10 Least Risky Housing Markets in the US  according to a study by PMI says:

"Even so, all neighborhoods are not equal. Some pockets of central Ohio, such as Clintonville, Upper Arlington and Powell, saw swift price increases during the earlier part of this decade and have since watched prices slide."

That paragraph brought the question "What is a neighborhood?" up again for me. 

Clintonville is a neighborhood kinda sort.   Clintonville is more of a neighborhood than Powell and Upper Arlington are anyway. Powell and Upper Arlington are cities. Powell and Upper Arlington are suburbs of Columbus. I looked quickly to see if there are "sliding" prices in those three communities upon reading the Columbus Dispatch article.

Above is a map of the Clintonville "neighborhood" or Clintonville "area" depending on how you look at neighborhoods and areas, I guess.  The numbered green dots represent some of the area properties for sale.  

To me Columbus neighborhoods are Salem Village, Forest Park, The Knolls, The Gables, Sycamore Hills, Indian Springs, Indian Hills, ...there are zillions (that just  might be an exaggeration) of neighborhoods in Columbus but Powell, Upper Arlington, Worthington, Westerville, Dublin, Grove City, Bexley etc. are not neighborhoods, they are suburbs, they are cities. The cities surrounding Columbus are each made up of neighborhoods of their own. 

Or maybe Salem Village, Forest Park, The Knolls, The Gables, Sycamore Hills, Indian Hills...  are subdivisions and neighborhoods are made up of groups of subdivisions.

Subdivision in the FreeDictionary.com

"sub·di·vi·sion(sbd-vzhn, sbd-vzhn)
n.
1.
a. The act or process of subdividing.
b. A subdivided part.
2. An area of real estate composed of subdivided lots."

Even Clintonville has neighborhoods. Neighborhoods within the Clintonville area include Rosemary, Overbrook Ravine, Northmoor, Indian Springs to name a few and  vast areas of the Clintonville Beechwold area do not have recognizable neighborhood names, although the legal descriptions of Clintonville homes sometimes have old long forgotten subdivision names.

Some of my Central Ohio "neighborhood pet peeves" include:

Riverlea is not a Worthington neighborhood, Riverlae is a separate village.   It is lumped into an area with Worthington now as far as the Columbus Board of REALTORS® MLS is concerned but not for long.  New mapping is on it's way!   When Riverlea had a separate MLS area (years ago) agents would miss showing listings in Riverlea to buyers looking for a home in the Worthington School District because it was such a small pocket.  

Minerva Park is not a Columbus neighborhood, it is a separate village with amenities only available to Village of Minerva Park residents.  

Hmmmmm....The Huber Ridge area (Northeast Franklin County, Blendon Township)  is made up of subdivisions or neighborhoods? Are Fox Chase, Huber Ridge, Glengary Heights, Glengary Woods, Hunt Club etc. neighborhoods? Or is the whole area a neighborhood?

In a recent list of top communities, Blacklick Estates a Central Ohio community in Southeastern Franklin County made the CNNMoney.com list for "Best places to live,  Where homes are affordable"   I thought of Blacklick Estates as a neighborhood or a subdivision, not as a city.... after looking it up in Wikipedia I noticed CNNMoney.com called this list a "Best place" to live list... places not cities!  I found out from Wikipedia that Blacklick Estates is "an unincorporated census-designated place!"  

For pete's sake what's an "unincorporated census-designated place"?  Actually Blacklick Estates while in Franklin County is outside of the area where I work because of distance but I wondered if Lewis Center is an "unincorporated census-designated place"? Or what Lewis Center is considered. Officially.

Maybe I'll just  think of the micro to the macro as places.... Minerva Park is a place,  Westerville is a place, Lewis Center is a place, Powell is a place, Golf Village is a place, the Reserve at Golf Village is just a littler place, Clintonville is a place,  the Indian Springs subdivision in the Clintonville area of the city of Columbus is just a place....

Columbus Dispatch "beware of sliding prices"?

Clintonville - "beware of sliding home prices?

Columbus Makes National Top Ten List! - least risky markets in the US.

Westerville and Gahanna make the list of Top 100 Small Cities in the US

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