Population Change and It's Effects on Redistricting in Michigan

This was a map created for my Political Geography class during the Fall of 2012. The idea of this portion of the project was to identify how population change in the state of Michigan affected the redistricting of congressional districts. 

The map on the far left depicts population change by county from the year 2000 to the year 2010. Counties in red have experienced declines in population while counties in green have experienced population growth.

Upon understanding where these areas of population have changed one can then view the maps on the right and understand how these changes in population affect redistricting. Almost all of the congressional districts between 2000 and 2010 had their boundaries changed dramatically. These changes in boundaries greatly affected the legislative breakdown of United States Congresspersons hailing from the state. The breakdown changed dramatically by not changing at all. Despite seeing a dramatic shift in population in the form of a "white flight" out of the Detroit area, not one district changed what political party represented their district. This has become all too prevalent in today's political culture, as the process of Gerrymandering districts has resulted in stagnation of the democratic process. One would expect radical changes in the political breakdown of Michigan's congressional representatives but truthfully nothing changed, despite the massive face lift on Michigan's districts.