Inquiry into the Life and Labour of the People in London

Charles Booth was an English industrialist and social reformer. From 1886 -1903 he conducted a massive survey, entitled Inquiry into the Life and Labour of the People in London, to assess the scale of poverty in London. His researchers aimed to determine the social character of every street in the city. The Poverty Maps are an example of social cartography, each street is coloured to indicate the income and social class of its inhabitants.

A rough area was defined as one with "Open doors, broken windows, prostitutes, thieves and a row always going on between warlike mothers." A respectable neighbourhood was one with "flowerpots, lace curtains, scrubbed doors and hanging birdcages."

Here's a photo of Mr. Nag checking out the interactive map of the project at the Museum of London:

Find out more about the project and the maps here. 

Maps can be downloaded here.