Sustainable Lifestyle Scenarios

Dexign the Future project 4
Dan Tasse

Area: Bloomfield (15224)

Current reality:

(from zipatlas) Population: 12095. 45% male, 55% female. Age distribution is a little younger than Pennsylvania, median=36.3 years.

Racially: 63% white, 30% black, 2% asian, 1% hispanic. More black people, proportionally, than Pennsylvania and the US. There are large German, Irish, and Polish populations, though the largest group (19%) is Italian.

Education: of 8347 adults, 32% have high school diploma, 16% have some college, 6% associates, 11% bachelors, 9% graduate degree. These are all slightly lower than the national average.

Employment: numbers are hard to understand. It looks like the unemployment level is about 6%, close to the Pennyslvania and national average. 34% are in professional/management, 23% service occupations, 26% in sales/office, 6% in construction, and 9% in production/transportation. Education, health, and social services is the biggest employer.

Income: Median household income is low, at $22,880. Average household size is 2.13, compared to the nation's 2.58. This may have something to do with students and young professionals.

Commuting: 44% drive alone, 12% carpool, 22% take public transportation, 18% walk. Way more walkers and public transport takers than the national average.

From Pittsburgh American Community Survey 5-year estimates, via Pitt's UCSUR:

Population: 9,003 (not including Garfield, as zipatlas did)

Racially: 84% white, 8% black, 5% Asian

Education/income/commuting: similar to the above.

Place of birth: 68% born in Pennsylvania, 19% born in another state, 10% foreign born.

Age: not a lot of young people <18 (9%). Population seems to be slowly aging, 14% >65.

Chosen demographic in 2054: aging Italian-American adult.

75 year old Italian man, who owned a small tanning salon and some rental properties as a 35-year-old in 2014. Some college at Pitt, but didn't finish. Household income is higher than the average in Bloomfield, which he attributes to his hustle (managing a business and being a landlord is no easy work).

Forces affecting his life:

• Increased immigration and rising house prices: is great for him in theory, as he invested early and bought a lot of houses. In reality, he hasn't been able to take advantage of it much yet, as he hasn't been selling, and his houses are not in the best condition. However, rising property values bring rising rents, which have been nice.
• CMU, Google, and the tech scene's continued expansion and influence: more students and young professionals are moving in, which means it's always been easy to find renters. However, they've been growing increasingly demanding as they've been paying more rent.
• Shrinking Italian representation in Bloomfield - as adults grow old and die, fewer Italian immigrants replace them, so the neighborhood is losing its "Little Italy" feel. He's somewhat sad about this, as he has fond memories of his parents and grandparents playing Bocce at their social club and playing music at Little Italy days, but he's overall a practical guy and doesn't get caught up in too much sentimentality.
• Continued bus cuts and transit difficulties. Doesn't affect him much, as he walks to work (like 18% of the neighborhood). Increased bicycling has eased traffic congestion, so it's easier to get around when he does want to drive somewhere.
• Rising health consciousness: forced him to shut down his tanning salon when he was 53. Nobody came there anymore, citing health concerns.
• Rising health care costs: have been a concern for him as he's aged. The price of being old has gone up, which is why he's still a landlord at 75. Due to his housing equity, he's not worried about growing old, but he wanted to leave a bunch of money for his kids, and he's not sure he'll be able to. Of course, increased estate taxes have made this even more difficult.
• Availability of continuing education: he was able to take some financial management courses online, which helped him make more money on his houses.
• Increasing professionalism of local businesses: as more hotels and national businesses have moved into the neighborhood, the carpenters and repair workers have gone out of business, replaced by larger contractors. This has been disruptive, as he's relied on his network for a while, but they are unavailable now.
• Climate change: has not affected him directly, but indirectly made a lot of his life harder. Prices for fuel went up, winters are a little colder, summers a little warmer. Pittsburgh is pretty well located to avoid the worst. They did have a hurricane when he was 58, that was a new one.
• Increasing cost of education: private school education has become ridiculously expensive. State schools have still done well though, so both his kids went to Penn State.

Conversation from the future

Between Phil (successful 75 year old man) and his renter Jim.

Storyboard from the future

Backstory: John, Phil's brother, is the 32-year-old owner of a small Italian restaurant in 2014. Around 2020, started to lose business. Clientele getting older. Had to close in 2025. Worked for Kennametal as a business analyst for three years, but then they closed down too. As he was searching for a job, his wife Amy got breast cancer, and as they were uninsured, they got in a lot of debt. At the same time, in 2030, his kids were just getting ready to go to college, but he couldn't afford it. They went to community college in engineering and biology, but it was hard to find a job in Pittsburgh for his son Jared, the biologist, so his daughter Miranda, the engineer, ended up supporting the family.

Now, at 72, their money's largely run out. They're able to support their home (bought cheap in the 2000s) so they're not in dire trouble, but they're scrambling to make ends meet. John's picking up small contract work out of his house. The kids have moved out and have grandkids. John's still in the Quaternary Club, which he joined as a kitschy thing in the 2000s, but it's become a primary socialization measure as he's grown. They get together to talk, drink coffee, play cards, and smoke weed from a vaporizer on a roof. Here, John converses with his neighbor Adam.

Storyboard pdf

Security report from the future

A report on Phil and John's brother Edgar, the youngest of three, from the 15224 level Department of Homeland Security to the Greater Pittsburgh region head, suggesting adding him to multiple watch lists.