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71. Fulfilling the Promise: Seven Steps to Successful Community-Based Information Strategies

Author:
Pari Sabety
Publication Date:
05-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
While some neighborhoods in American cities are resurgent, many others remain stubbornly entrenched in a cycle of underinvestment. A contributing factor is that—despite thriving immigrant populations, high volumes of cash transactions, and relatively stable housing markets—these neighborhoods are victims of an urban information gap which undervalues their commercial potential. The importance of good information for private and public investments is widely acknowledged, but fragmented funding, lack of standards, and spotty data has impeded either effective or universal use of these tools. This paper sets forth seven steps for practitioners and investors to follow in investing in local community information initiatives and, in turn, close the urban information gap and accelerate investment in these markets.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Poverty
Political Geography:
United States and America

72. The Shape of Metropolitan Growth: How Policy Tools Affect Growth Patterns in Seattle and Orlando

Author:
William Fulton, Linda E. Hollis, Chris Williamson, and Erik Kancler
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
Land use, infrastructure, and open space policy play an important role in shaping metropolitan growth, and whether or not they are coordinated on the policy level, they do interact with each other in shaping those patterns. However, the exact interplay of these policies is not well understood. This paper uses two metropolitan areas—Orlando and Seattle—with differing growth management regimes to explore the effects of conscious growth policy on metropolitan form.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Economics, and Industrial Policy

73. Overcoming Barriers to Mobility: The Role of Place in the United States and UK

Author:
Alan Berube
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
In late 2004 and the first half of 2005, the US media elite caught the mobility bug. Within weeks of one another, three newspapers of national record – The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal , and the Los Angeles Times – each independently published a series of articles describing, by various measures, whether and how Americans are 'getting ahead' today. Collectively, the articles offered a re-examination of a powerful narrative in the United States: that of a classless society, with boundless opportunity awaiting those who choose to seize it.
Topic:
Civil Society and Development
Political Geography:
United States, United Kingdom, America, and Europe

74. Katrina Index: Tracking Variables of Post-Katrina Reconstruction

Author:
Bruce Katz, Matt Fellowes, and Mia Mabanta
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
Over the past thirty days, the number of new building perm its filed in the metro area more than quadrupled, and the first of thousands of homes destroyed by Katrina finally started being demolished in Orleans Parish. Meanwhile, the most recent population statistics released by the city of New Orleans in March showed that over 180,000 people now live in New Orleans. But, little or no progress was made in rebuilding many key components of the area's infrastructure and hospitality industry.
Topic:
Development, Environment, Government, and Industrial Policy

75. Federal Allocations in Response to Katrina, Rita, and Wilma

Author:
Amy Liu and Matthew Fellowes
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
Federal allocations in response to hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma now total over $88 billion. Additionally, over $8 billion in tax relief is available, and another $19.8 billion in spending has been proposed by the Bush administration in February 2006. While these numbers appear quite large, widespread uncertainty exists over how much of this money has actually been spent and where.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Environment, and Government

76. Upstate School Reform: The Challenge of Regional Geography

Author:
Kieran M. Killeen and John Sipple
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
As documented in four prior reports in this series, Upstate New York faces many common challenges, including economic decline, sprawling development, population and job loss, and concentrated poverty. The impact of these problems is not uniform across Upstate, however, as the regional landscape includes large and small cities, stable and unstable metropolitan economies, and economically isolated rural areas. The health and status of the K-12 educational systems is no exception.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Education, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
New York

77. Making Sense of Clusters: Regional Competitiveness and Economic Development

Author:
Joseph Cortright
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
In recent years, "cluster strategies" have become a popular economic development approach among state and local policymakers and economic development practitioners. An industry cluster is a group of firms, and related economic actors and institutions, that are located near one another and that draw productive advantage from their mutual proximity and connections. Cluster analysis can help diagnose a region's economic strengths and challenges and identify realistic ways to shape the region's economic future. Yet many policymakers and practitioners have only a limited understanding of what clusters are and how to build economic development strategies around them.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Government
Political Geography:
United States

78. Diversity Spreads Out: Metropolitan Shifts in Hispanic, Asian, and Black Populations Since 2000

Author:
William H. Frey
Publication Date:
03-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
The idea of America as an ethnic “melting pot” gained currency at the turn of the 20th century, amid an unprecedented wave of European immigrants to the United States. At the turn of the 21st century, the melting pot ideal persists, but encompasses a more racially and ethnically diverse group of Americans, both native and foreign born. In particular, the higher growth rates of the nation's minority populations versus its white population animate this distinctly American concept.
Topic:
Civil Society, Demographics, Development, and Migration
Political Geography:
New York, Asia, California, Chicago, and Phoenix

79. One-Fifth of the Nation: America's First Suburbs

Author:
David Warren and Robert Puentes
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
One of the more encouraging metropolitan policy trends over the last several years is the increased attention on America's older, inner-ring, “first” suburbs. Beginning generally with Myron Orfield's Metropolitics in 1997, a slow but steady stream of research has started to shine a bright light on these places and begun to establish the notion that first suburbs have their own unique set of characteristics and challenges that set them apart from the rest of metropolitan America. Since then first suburbs in a few regions have assumed a small, but significant, role in advancing research and policy discussions about metropolitan growth and development.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Migration
Political Geography:
United States and America

80. The New Safety Net: How the Tax Code Helped Low-Income Working Families During the Early 2000s

Author:
Alan Berube
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Brookings Institution
Abstract:
The early years of the twenty- first century marked a period of change in both the labor market and in public policy for the nation's low-income working families. Most prominently, employment conditions deteriorated after 2000. The nation's unemployment rate climbed from 4 percent in 2000 to 6 percent in 2003. The unemployment rate for workers with less than a high school education rose to nearly 9 percent in 2003. Real hourly wages continued to increase slightly for most workers during this period, but the weak labor market reduced the number of hours worked, along with overall earnings and family incomes. The steady rise in labor force participation among low-income families during the 1990s, spurred in part by the 1996 welfare reform law and other policies to “make work pay,” gave way to a decline after 2000.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
New York