parsing the innerburbs a tri-city study of growth trends and policy challenges

PARSING THE INNERBURBS

A Tri-City Study of Growth Trends and Policy Challenges

Presentation Outline

-A priori definition of the “Innerburbs”

-Goals of study

-Methodology

-Monterrey and Latin America specific issues

The Innerburbs - first glance

The Innerburbs

The Innerburbs - first glance

The Innerburbs

The built-up area around the historic city center.

The Innerburbs - first glance

The InnerburbsThe built-up area around the historic city center.Former ‘suburbs’ now bounded by current peripheral development.

The Innerburbs - first glance

The InnerburbsThe built-up area around the historic city center.Former ‘suburbs’ now bounded by current peripheral development.Established areas that have been more or less fully serviced by the city.

The Innerburbs - first glance

The InnerburbsThe built-up area around the historic city center.Former ‘suburbs’ now bounded by current peripheral development.Established areas that have been more or less fully serviced by the city.Assumption: receive inadequate attention at the local and regional policy level.

The Innerburbs - first glance (cont’d)

Current Literature“One-Fifth of America: A Comprehensive Guide to America’s First Suburbs”

(Puentes & Warren, The Brookings Institute)

-Temporally delimited:post-World War II city development (1950 cut-off)

-Key Finding:

the ‘first suburbs’ are diverse sections within cities-Demographically, economically, socially, etc.

Goals of Study

Objectives:

-Develop a working definition of “the innerburbs”

-Apply this definition to an analysis of housing trends in the US and Mexico

Methodology

Easier to cut out what is NOT the innerburbs-Identify the historic city core

-Identify current suburbs, i.e., those that currently form the periphery

-Eliminate these areas and focus on remainder- the “doughnut”

Methodology

The City Core:

-comes from urban historic narratives.

-the researchers also used historical maps to track the development of the core and surrounding areas.

Methodology

Upon preliminary analysis of the core, a fourth zone was created- the ‘Inurba’

Inurba: The Inner Urban Area:

-Pre-WWII residential communities built to directly support the functions of the city core.

-Thought of as part of the city in the popular historical narrative.

Methodology

The Suburbs:

-not as substantively defined as the city core.

-the researchers used a general 1980 cut-off to delimit innerburban from current suburban development.

Methodology

Map Creation:

-Using these boundaries and census shape files, the researchers used GIS software to build geo-referenced maps of the cities.

Definition (Base) Map - Austin, TX

Definition (Base) Map - Houston, TX

Definition (Base) Map – Monterrey (1950-1980)

Methodology

Upon creating the Base Maps, the researchers loaded data sets into GIS to create informative maps.

Example: Map - Austin

Example: Map - Houston

Example: Map - Monterrey

Methodology

Determining Key Analysis Variables:

-Having established the procedure for map creation, the researchers developed a list of potentially interesting variables to analyze.

-Overarching project goal is to find policy gaps, variables selected mostly concerned population characteristics, quality of life, and civic engagement.

Table 1: Analysis Themes & Variables

Theme U.S. Variables Mexico Variables Race/ethnicity Black

White Asian Hispanic Other

Indigenous language Indigenous origin

Origin Born in Texas Born in different state

Born in Nuevo Leon Born in different state

Socio-Economic Status Median family income Median property value Median property tax

Adult earnings

Housing People per room Owner/renter occupancy Mortgage/non-mortgaged

Owner/renter occupancy Dirt floors Walls of precarious materials Electricity Sewage

Education N/A Educational attainment

Methodology

Next Steps:

-Analysis of map overlays, looking for interesting case studies.

-Selection of innerburb neighborhoods for further analysis

-fieldwork in neighborhoods to extract useful findings.

Innerburbs in Latin America

-A Closer look at Monterrey

-Questions regarding method(s) for defining the innerburbs in Latin America

Monterrey

Methedology

-1950 vs. 1960

-Limit A vs. Limit B

-Irregular Settlements vs. City Growth

Monterrey

Monterrey

Monterrey

Monterrey Innerburbs Limit A

Monterrey Innerburbs Limit B

FIN