transforming community development with land information systems

7/30/2019 Transforming Community Development with Land Information Systems

1/52Policy Focus Report Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Transforming Community DevelopmenWith Land Information Systems

B y S a r a h T r e u h a f T a n d G . T h o m a S K i n G S l e y


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Policy Focus Report Series

The Lincoln Institutes policy ocus report series addresses timely public policy issues relating

to land use, land markets, and property taxation. Each report is designed to bridge the gap

between theory and practice by combining research ndings, case studies, and contributions

rom scholars in a variety o academic disciplines, and rom proessional practitioners, local

ocials, and citizens in diverse communities.

About tis Report

This report is part o a multiyear research and action project by PolicyLink, the Urban Institute,

and the Lincoln Institute o Land Policy to advance the eld o parcel data systems and their

application to community revitalization and equitable development. (See inside back cover

or more inormation about the participating organizations.) It builds on research summarized

in a recent Lincoln Institute working paper, The Potential of Parcel-Based GIS in CommunityDevelopment and Urban Land Management (Chandler et al. 2006), which was presented to a

group o community data systems experts in June 2006. At that meeting, attendees expressed

the need or case studies to illustrate the value o integrated parcel data systems or the

practice o community development. This report represents a rst step toward cataloguing

the most promising applications o these land inormation systems.

About te Autors

Sara Treuatis a senior associate at PolicyLink in Oakland, Caliornia. She conducts

research and writes on a variety o equitable development topics such as the use o data and

mapping or community building and regional equity strategies. She also works with partner

organizations to advance policies that benet low-income communities, and acilitates trainings

or community-based advocacy coalitions.

G. Tomas Kingsley is a senior researcher and research manager in housing, urban policy,

and governance issues at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC, and is the author o numerous

publications in those elds. He served as the director o the Institutes Center or Public Finance

and Housing rom 1986 through 1997. He currently directs the National Neighborhood

Indicators Partnership, an initiative to urther the development o advanced data systems

or policy analysis and community building in U.S. cities.

Copyright 2008 by the Lincoln Institute o Land Policy

All rights reserved.

www.lincolninst.edu

ISBN 978-1-55844-179-8

Policy Focus Report / Code PF016

Transforming Community DevelopmentWith Land Information Systems


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T R E U H A f T & K i n g s l E y t r a n s f o r m i n g c o m m u n i t y d e v e l o p m e n t

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Contents

2 Executie Summary

4 Capter 1: From Parcel Data to Community Action

5 The Evolution o Parcel Data Systems

7 Facilitating Factors or Advanced Applications

9 Capter 2: Case Studies

10 Chicago, Illinois

Aligning Neighborhood Planning with Regional Development Goals

17 Cleveland, Ohio

Fostering Neighborhood Market Recovery

23 MinneapolisSt. Paul, Minnesota

Shaping Institutional and Policy Solutions to Regional Challenges

31 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Targeting Outreach and Investment Strategies

38 Washington, DC

Managing the Aordable Housing Inventory

43 Capter 3: Conclusion and Recommendations

45 Reerences and Resources

47 Acknowledgments

49 Participating Organizations

O N T h E C O v E R

Te Pennsylania horticultural

Society used te ParcelBase

application to elp implement

its Piladelpia Green program

to reabilitate acant lots.

More tan 150 acres o acant

land ae been transormed

by tese clean and green

treatments, including tis

corner lot at 5t and Norris

in Nort Piladelpia.


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p o l i c y f o c u s r e p o r t l i n c o l n i n s T i T U T E o f l A n d P o l i c y

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Anew era o data democracy has arrived, enabling tremendous improvements in land

inormation systems and opening up a wealth o opportunities or the practice o

community development and the management o community resources.

Geographic inormation systems (GIS) and Web services have dramatically expanded the

ability to access, analyze, disseminate, and display vast quantities o data. These powerul

technologies make it possible or cities, counties, and even regions to integrate their adminis-

trative databases and make parcel-level inormation available to the public via the Internet.

Community data intermediaries, together with the national networks that support them,

also play a crucial role in the democratization o dataserving as bridge-builders or tech-

nology, government, and the community. With this extensive inormation inrastructure in

place, community development practitioners now have greater access to the detailed prop-erty data that are so vital or analyzing and monitoring changes in neighborhood real

estate markets.

This report describes how pioneering organizations and partnerships are turning robust,

integrated parcel data systems into powerul tools or guiding community change. Drawing

on extensive interviews with dozens o practitioners and community data experts, case

studies o ve cities and regionsChicago, Cleveland, MinneapolisSt. Paul, Philadelphia,

and Washington, DCdetail some o the nations most promising applications o property-

level inormation.

Executive Summary

Bickerdike

Redeelopment

Corporations use

o parcel data

supports its

ousing and

organizing work

on Cicagos

nortwest side,

suc as tis

reabilitationo te istoric

Bouleard

Apartments.


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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

From the early successes showcased here, it is clear that innovative parcel data applica-

tions are truly transorming the practice o community development. The case studies were

selected to demonstrate how land inormation systems can be used to address a wide range

o community development challenges on both an urban and regional scale, such as the

ollowing:

Providing decision support or major initiatives. In Cleveland, parcel data

are being used to inorm land acquisition decisions and model block eorts in six

neighborhoods targeted or revitalization.

Inorming oreclosure prevention strategies. University-community partnerships

in Cleveland and MinneapolisSt. Paul are developing systems to identiy properties at

risk o oreclosure and to design eective interventions.

Targeting outreach to low-income homeowners. Community organizations in

Chicago and Philadelphia have used parcel data to target services and resources to help

low-income owners maintain and improve their homes.

Planning commercial district revitalization. Using Web-based GIS tools,

community groups in Chicago have surveyed local commercial districts to support

economic development and transit-oriented development planning.

Supporting community organizing.A resident task orce in one o Clevelands

most distressed neighborhoods used data on loan transactions to identiy and take legal

action against property fippers.

Monitoring and preserving aordable housing.An enhanced parcel data system

is supporting collaborative eorts to preserve Section 8 units and manage the aordable

housing stock in Washington, DC.

These and other advanced applications described in this report demonstrate the vast

potential that integrated parcel data systems hold or the creation o equitable and sustain-

able communities. Fullling this promise, however, requires ongoing investments in systems,

institutions, and processes. In particular, the support o government at all levels and o in-

stitutions and oundations is needed to bring emerging solutions to scale, disseminate bestpractices in the use o parcel data, and oster continued innovation in land inormation

systems to support community change.


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C h a p t e r 1

From Parcel Data toCommunity Action

Inormation on individual properties

including land value, ownership, zoning,

tax liens, and vacancy statusis crucial

or understanding neighborhood mar-

kets and how they are changing over time.

While community development practitioners

have always sought these data, until recently

the cost o gathering the inormation rom

multiple local government agencies was

prohibitive. Basic act-nding on properties

targeted or acquisition or improvementmeant visiting city hall or other oces to

examine individual records. This was a time-

consuming process that precluded using

property data more strategically or plan-

ning, decision making, and evaluation.

A new era o data democracy has now

arrived. Technological innovations have

vastly expanded the opportunities or using

parcel data in community development.

Geographic inormation system (GIS) tech-

nology has evolved rom a tool that was

cumbersome, expensive, and highly special-

ized to one that is increasingly accessible,

user-riendly, and applicable within many

elds. At the same time, the advent o

Internet-based technologies such as Web

GIS and Web services has made it possible

to distribute vast quantities o data to

widely dispersed users.

Recognizing the potential these advances

held or the eld o community develop-

ment, PolicyLink and the Urban Institute,

with support rom the Lincoln Institute o

Land Policy, began to inquire into the status

o parcel data system development. A Web

survey revealed that an unexpectedly large

share o cities72 o the nations largest

100operate systems that make parcel datarom multiple agencies available to the pub-

lic via the Internet (Chandler et al. 2006).

These systems varied greatly in terms o

their data quality and analytical capabilities

(see table 1). Nevertheless, the movement

toward integrated, GIS-driven, Web-based

administrative parcel data systems was clear.

This nding immediately prompted

several questions about what these advances

mean or community development. Was the

potential within integrated administrative

parcel systems being realized? Were com-

munity development practitionersthe

people and organizations directly involved

in reclaiming vacant properties, preserving

aordable housing, and other issues or

which property data are relevantaccessing

home Institution

Numbero Cities

(N=72)

Percent o Systems Proiding Data on:

Current

$ value Parcel Size Land Use Year Built

Tecnical Goernment Agency

(IT/MIS/GIS)35 69% 43% 37% 43%

Substantie Goernment Agency

(e.g., Planning, Assessing)34 50 50 47 38

Uniersity 2 50 50 100 50

Priate Company 1 100 100 100

Source: Adapted rom Chandler et al. (2006)

table 1

Common variables Proided by Parcel Data Systems


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and using these land inormation systems?

And i so, or what purposes?

This report provides answers to these ques-

tions. Drawn rom a review o land inorma-

tion systems and interviews with dozens o

community development practitioners and

parcel data experts, the ve case studies illus-

trate how pioneering practitioners in these

cities and regions are transorming mundane

administrative data systems into highly eec-

tive tools or community development.

ThE EvOL UT ION OF

PARCEL DATA SYST EMS

The origin o parcel data systems in the

West can be traced to ancient Rome, where

land surveyors inscribed bronze tablets with

base maps demarcating property boundaries

and ownership inormation. Ater disappear-

ing during the Middle Ages, property map-

ping reemerged during the Enlightenment

to become a widespread tool or land man-

agement and the taxation o real property.

Over time, local governments began to

maintain records or additional types o

property conditions, such as building code

violations and the locations o structural res.

For centuries, all o this inormation was

contained in paper records that were

stored in separate municipal oces.

In recent years, technologies such as

GIS have revolutionized public recordkeep-

ing. Local governments are now creating

integrated land inormation systems that

recurrently gather data on parcels rom

multiple agencies and store the inormation

in a single location (see gure 1). Personal

computers, the Internet, Web-based GIS

mapping, and Web services have democ-

ratized access to these parcel inormation

systems, making data housed at government

agencies available to community-based

organizations and the public.

While the process diers across localities,

the development o parcel data systems

generally occurs in our stages.

1. Transer o paper cadastral records

(property data linked to a map indicating

parcel boundaries) maintained by the tax

assessor into a regularly updated, com-

puterized database.

2. Integration o parcel data developed by

the assessor, the recorder o deeds, the

housing department, and other agencies

into a single automated system.

3. Creation o an integrated parcel data

figure 1

Map Milwaukee Exemplifes an Adanced Municipal Parcel Data System

Source: Map Milwaukee (http://www.city.milwaukee.gov/MapMilwaukee3480.htm)


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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

system available to public sector em-

ployees on their desktops.

4. Development o a Web-based system

accessible to government employees,

community development practitioners,

and the general public.

As parcel data systems develop, their power

and utility grow. Combining databases pre-viously stored in separate systems makes

inormation access, maintenance, and dis-

tribution much more ecient. Sharing data

across administrative agencies not only

reduces the cost o acquiring and maintain-

ing inormation, but also expands the selec-

tion o data available to users (see box 1).

With these additional layers o inormation,

users can perorm dierent types o analyses

that reveal new trends and opportunities.

Moreover, cooperation on data system devel-

opment can lead to improved interagency

relationships, increasing the likelihood that

participants will work together toward the

same purpose (Nedovic-Budic et al. 2004).

The real value o integrated parcel data

systems comes when community organiza-tions and residents are able to access, review,

and use the inormation. By virtue o their

everyday presence, neighborhood-based

users oten possess the most up-to-date

inormation about the ownership, value,

and condition o properties. When brought

into deliberative processes, they can use

their local knowledge to veriy data, conrm

Portland, Oregon, is home to one

o the nations most sophisticated

parcel data systems delivered throughan enterprise, or institution-wide, model.

The city chose to invest $7 million to

develop an integrated inormation

system ater a business analysis

documented the ineciency o running

multiple GIS systems in dierent city

departments.

PortlandMaps.com is a user-riendly,

Web-based system that provides agency

employees and residents a single entry-

way to the citys extensive databases

including more than 250 layers o par-

cel data and a variety o applications

while saving the city nearly $1 million

per year (Chandler et al. 2006).

box 1

PortlandMaps.com Demonstrates te Potential o Enterprise GIS

Source: PortlandMaps.com

2008 City o Portland, Oregon


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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Basic Administratie

Uses o Property Data

Obtaining inormation

on individual properties

(such as ownership or

value) on an as-needed

basis

Facilitating Factors

Community data intermediaries

National intermediary networks

Data-backed communitydevelopment initiatives

Integrated regional parceldata systems

Public policy supports

Examples o Adanced Community

Deelopment Applications

Providing decision support or major initiatives

Inorming oreclosure prevention strategies

Targeting outreach to low-income homeowners

Planning commercial district revitalization

Supporting community organizing

Monitoring and preserving aordable housing

ndings, and develop more specic research

questions. The bringing together o people

and technology helps to build systems and

institutions that are better equipped to createhealthier, more equitable communities.

FACIL ITAT ING FACTORS FOR

ADvANCED APPL ICAT IONS

Over the past 40 years as the ederal gov-

ernment has decreased its involvement in

neighborhood revitalization, community-

based organizations (in particular, commu-

nity development corporations or CDCs)

and other nonprot agencies have taken

responsibility or the physical, social, and

economic rehabilitation o distressed areas.

In the process, these organizations have

gained a sophisticated understanding o

property markets and have become eective

developers o aordable housingand,

increasingly, o mixed-income housing and

mixed-use retail. Community development

practitioners have also become adept at

using data and mapping to support their

activities (Craig and Sawicki 1996; Craig

and Elwood 1998; Craig et al. 2002;

Kingsley 1998).

While the democratization o parcel

data systems is an enormous win or com-

munity development practitioners, data

access alone does not automatically lead to

sophisticated applications. A mix o institu-

tions and technological tools are needed to

move parcel data into the eld o commu-

nity development (see gure 2).

Community Data Intermediaries

Organizations that gather data relevant or

neighborhood-level analysis and make the

inormation available to community groups

and local institutions play an essential role

in bringing data and maps into the realm o

community building (Barndt 1998; Treuhat

et al. 2006). Robust community development

applications o parcel data are almost always

guided by community data intermediaries,

such as the Center on Urban Poverty and

Community Development (Cleveland), the

Cartographic Modeling Laboratory (Phila-

delphia), the Center or Urban and Regional

Aairs (MinneapolisSt. Paul), the Chicago

Metropolitan Agency or Planning, and

NeighborhoodInoDC.

In addition to building and maintaining

comprehensive systems containing parcel-

and neighborhood-level data, these inter-

mediaries orm institutional collaborations,

partner with communities to develop data

applications, pioneer new orms o applied

research, and train local organizations and

individuals on the use o data in commu-

nity change. While many intermediaries

figure 2

Adanced Community Deelopment Applications Require Seeral Facilitating Factors


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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

operate within universities, some are non-

prot organizations or are hosted by govern-

ment agencies.

National Intermediary Networks

Over two dozen community data intermedi-

ariessuch as the Cleveland, Minneapolis

St. Paul, and Washington, DC, institutions

proled in this reportparticipate in the

Urban Institutes National Neighborhood

Indicators Partnership (NNIP).This and

other national learning networks help organi-

zations adopt new inormation tools and use

them eectively through inormation dis-

semination, convenings, and other activities.

NNIP publishes guidebooks and research

papers, holds semi-annual partner meetings,

hosts a Web site and email listserve, con-

ducts multisite demonstration projects, as-

sembles national data sets, and provides

technical assistance to startup intermediar-

ies. The Community Indicators Consortium

(CIC) is another learning network that

osters knowledge exchange among persons

interested or engaged in the development

and application o community indicators.

Data-backed Community

Development Initiatives

Community development initiatives that

promote the use o data and mapping in

program development, monitoring, and

evaluation (and provide the resources to

support those purposes) help to catalyze

innovative applications and eective

collaborations. The Strategic Investment

Initiative in Cleveland, the New Communi-

ties Program o the Local Initiatives Support

Corporation (LISC) in Chicago, and the

Neighborhood Revitalization Program in

Minneapolis have eectively integrated the

use o parcel data into community building.

Creating the organizational capacity to use

the data and technology is an important

component o these successes.

Integrated Regional Parcel

Data Systems

Land inormation systems that integrate

property data maintained by separate admin-istrative agencies and make the inormation

available to users outside o government

provide the basic inrastructure or advanced

community development applications. Tech-

nological advances have enabled the rapid

expansion o these systems at very low cost,

and that trend is expected to continue

(Chandler et al. 2006).

While most integrated systems are still

at the city or county level, somesuch as

MetroGIS in MinneapolisSt. Paulnow

include data layers or metropolitan regions.

Regional data systems will become even

more important in the coming years as the

community development eld extends into

older suburbs and as groups increasingly

incorporate a regional perspective into

their work (Blackwell and Fox 2005).

Public Policy Supports

In addition to these institutional and tech-

nological actors, local political support

and avorable public policies are essential

elements in the development o advanced

applications o parcel data. For example,

mayoral initiatives to improve city data sys-

tems or prioritize eorts that require prop-

erty data, such as reclamation o vacant

property, help to drive innovation in the

building and use o integrated systems.

On the public policy side, the ederal

Technology Opportunities Program (TOP),

operated rom 1994 to 2004, let a positive

legacy that attests to the long-term benets

o investing in technological solutions to

community challenges. State and local

policies regarding access, sharing, and use

o parcel data can also support advances

in community development applications.


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The ollowing case studies illustrate

what is possible when community

development practitioners are able

to access parcel data, along with the

tools and resources needed to analyze, mani-

pulate, and display the inormation. Pioneer-

ing organizations and partnerships have

developed advanced applications that use

property data to conduct sophisticated anal-

yses, support ongoing decision making and

action, engage residents and local businesses,crat targeted outreach and program strategies,

C h a p t e r 2

Case Studies

and guide and measure community invest-

ments. While by no means comprehensive,

these case studies cover a wide range o com-

munity development arenas in distressed,

transitional, and appreciating markets.

Table 2 identies the many actors that

contributed to the success o the advanced

community development applications described

in the case studiesapplications whose

power ar exceeds the typical administrative

uses or which the parcel data were origi-nally captured and maintained.

table 2

A Guide to te Case Studies

City/Region Facilitating Factors Applications o Parcel Data Systems

Cicago

Region

Community development initiative: Full Circle Community Mapping and

Planning Project; LISCs New Communities Program (NCP)

Parcel data system: Parcel Pointer data system and mapping tools

Community data intermediary: Chicago Metropolitan Agency or

Planning (CMAP)

Institutional and policy supports: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur

Foundation; Illinois Department o Commerce and EconomicOpportunity; ederal TOP grant

Planning commercial district revitalization

Guiding transit-oriented development

Improving neighborhood ood options

Extending housing preservation resources

to low-income homeowners

Engaging community members in zoning re-map

Inorming community land trust acquisitions

Identiying aordable rentals at risk o conversion

Cleeland Community development initiative: Neighborhood Progress, Inc.s

Strategic Investment Initiative (SII)

Parcel data system: Northeast Ohio Community and Neighborhood

Data or Organizing (NEO CANDO)

Community data intermediaries: Center on Urban Poverty and

Community Development, Case Western Reserve University;

Urban Development Law Clinic, Cleveland State University

Institutional and policy supports: Local oundations; local politicians

Providing decision support or land acquisition and

model block eorts

Supporting block group, resident engagement,

and community organizing activities

Targeting oreclosure prevention eorts

Inorming citywide reclamation o abandoned properties

Minneapolis

St. Paul

Region

Parcel data systems: Minneapolis Neighborhood Inormation System

(MNIS); MetroGIS regional data collaborative; Minnesota 3-D

Community data intermediary: Center or Urban and Regional Aairs

(CURA), University o Minnesota

Institutional and policy supports:Federal TOP grant

Evaluating university impacts on neighborhood

housing markets

Analyzing citywide oreclosure trends

Guiding transit-oriented development

Inorming oreclosure prevention strategies Mapping the regional jobs/housing imbalance

Assessing the impacts o new light rail service

Piladelpia Community development initiative: Neighborhood Transormation

Initiative (NTI)

Parcel data system: Philadelphia Neighborhood Inormation System

(NIS); BUILD vacant property management system

Community data intermediary: Cartographic Modeling Laboratory (CML),

University o Pennsylvania

Institutional and policy supports: City o Philadelphia

Targeting outreach to tangled title holders

Coordinating housing and commercial investments

Conducting urban policy research and analysis

Monitoring multiple community indicators

Tracking vacant properties rom acquisition to disposition

Inorming selection o parcels or green space and

housing rehabilitation

Wasington,

DC

Parcel data systems: City o Washington, DC, real property database;

NeighborhoodInfo DCdata warehouse; HUD Section 8 database

Institutional and policy supports: DC Department o Housing and

Community Development; local CDCs and other nonprots

Producing quarterly reports on aordable housing

Monitoring expiring Section 8 units

Providing decision support or collaborative eorts

to preserve Section 8 units


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0 p o l i c y f o c u s r e p o r t l i n c o l n i n s T i T U T E o f l A n d P o l i c y

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

With its diversied economic base, thriving

high-tech and nance industries, high rates

o immigration, and growing ethnic diver-

sity, the Chicago region stands out rom its

ellow Rust Belt metros. A massive infux o

capital during the 1990s sent waves o change

throughout the area, with development in

the urban core creating a host o spillover

eects in many neighborhoods. At the same

time, the pattern o urban sprawl continues,

with the outer-ring suburbs experiencing

the astest population gains (Taylor and

Puente 2004).

The combined impacts o urban rein-

vestment and sprawl are complex. Housing

aordability or both lower- and middle-

income households is a major concern as

communities across the region struggle to

manage change. Many traditionally lower-

income or working-class neighborhoods are

now in transition while others remain in

need o reinvestment. Ensuring that revital-

ization leads to improved quality o lie and

that current residents, businesses, and organi-

zations have a say in planning the uture o

their neighborhoods are critical regional

development goals.

The Full Circle Community Mapping

and Planning Project

Chicago is home to a unique eort to apply

parcel-level data and Web-based GIS tools

to shape growth and development in the

region. Initiated in 2003, the Full Circle

Community Mapping and Planning Project

provides community stakeholdersCDCs,

health advocacy groups, local governments,

and otherswith the technological tools to

collect and map previously unavailable local

data, and to use the maps in participatory

ChICAGO, ILLINOISaigning Nigboood pnning i rgion Dvomn Gos


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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

neighborhood planning eorts that align with

regional development goals. The majority

o Chicagos 77 communities are partners

in the Full Circle Project (see gure 3).The project and data system are managed

by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency or

Planning (CMAP), the regional planning

agency or seven counties in northeastern

Illinois. The project was launched with a

$675,000 grant rom the ederal Technology

Opportunities Program (TOP), with match-

ing dollars rom the John D. and Catherine

T. MacArthur Foundation. MacArthur and

the Local Initiatives Support Corporation

(LISC) Chicago also support the use o the

Full Circle system in the New Communities

Program, a $17.5 million comprehensive

planning eort underway in 14 communi-

ties. Grantees are encouraged to use the data

and mapping system to catalogue commu-

nity assets in developing and implementing

strategic plans.

The Full Circle data system traces its

roots to the Forum on Housing Solutions,

convened by the Chicago Department o

Housing in 2001. Recognizing that the lack

o electronically accessible housing data was

a major obstacle to decision making, the

orum recommended the creation o a cen-

tralized, Web-based data repository to be

hosted by a government entity with a region-

al reach. The Northeastern Illinois Planning

Commission (NIPC), which would later merge

with another regional planning agency to

orm CMAP, was chosen as the host. The

clearinghouse initially included census in-

ormation at the tract and block-group levels,

then gradually added parcel-level data rom

the Cook County Assessor, the Cook County

Recorder, the Chicago Department o Hous-

ing, the Illinois Housing Development Autho-

rity, and the U.S. Department o Housing

and Urban Development (HUD).

As the data repository was being developed,

stakeholders continued to call or more

detailed and more timely inormation on

neighborhood assets and conditions. In

response, NIPC applied or and received the

TOP grant to develop the Full Circle system.

Six organizations were initially selected to

participate in the project in 2004, and six

o the New Communities Program organi-

zations joined in 20052006. Any interested

organization can now attend the quarterly

user meetings, receive training on data

collection, obtain customized poster-sized

figure 3

Dozens o Organizations and MunicipalitiesParticipate in Cicagos Full Circle Project

Source: Chicago Metropolitan

Agency or Planning (CMAP),

Full Circle Project


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maps, and otherwise capitalize on the tech-

nology and know-how o the Full Circle sta.

The technology included in the Full Circle

toolkit includes wireless smart phones that

capture land use data in the eld and deposit

the inormation directly into a Web-based

GIS system, known as Parcel Pointer, or

later mapping and retrieval. The system

allows users to track dozens o variables or

any property and supports public, observa-

tional (user-generated), and survey data. As

organizations adapt Parcel Pointer to their

specic needs, they work with CMAP to

develop new modules that other groups can

then use. Surveys o historic structures, health

clinics, social service providers, and employ-

ment opportunities are just a ew o the

modules that have been added.

Some o the most common applications

o the Full Circle system involve data gath-

ering and mapping to inorm community

economic development and commercial dis-

trict revitalization in ways that engage resi-

dents, connect people to jobs, and build

local planning capacity. Among the specic

tools that help users understand the local

business environment are Business List and

Business Survey. Business List is a business

database populated with data rom the elec-

tronic Yellow Pages and other sources. The

system allows users to view the businesseslocated within a census tract or community,

edit inormation that is incorrect, and add

new data and/or new businesses. The

Business Survey tool allows users to gather

three types o inormation: conditions

visible rom curbside, interior characteristics,

and opinions o managers or customers.

Users create their own questionnaires by

selecting rom lists o possible data elds.

Planning Downtown Revitalization

in Harvey

The business surveys were the central

tools used in a year-long collaborative plan-

ning pilot project unded by the Illinois

Department o Economic Development

to help Harvey and two other inner-ring

suburbs coordinate local eorts with re-

gional planning objectives. In Harvey, an

older working-class suburb o about 30,000

located south o Chicago, the plan ocused

on transit-oriented development (TOD) by

integrating the train station and bus services

into the urban abric and attracting new

businesses to ll vacant sites.

Local planners collaborated with the

Center or Neighborhood Technology and

the Human Action Community Organiza-

tion to collect data needed to implement the

citys Downtown Revitalization Plan. The

groups used the Full Circle tools to inven-

tory 162 parcels in Harveys commercial

district, collecting inormation on 25 parcel-

level and 25 business-level attributes.

The surveys revealed that nearly a

quarter o the commercial district parcels

were vacant, and that a similar share had

buildings in only air to poor condition

(Chicago Metropolitan Agency or Planning

2007). Harveys planners used the results

o this analysis to take several actions.

Planners in harey used

Full Circle tools to identiy

underutilized parcels tat

could proide opportuni-

ties or more intensie

mixed-use deelopment.


15/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Identiyandmarketpotentialinfllsites. The

team produced site-specic development

opportunity brochures that include maps

and other detailed inormation to usewhen negotiating with developers.

Locatetheownerso vacantparcelsandbuildings

inpoorcondition. The City o Harvey is

talking with property owners about im-

proving the appearance o their buildings.

Createanewtransit-orientedoverlaydistrict.

Zoning changes and new design codes

were needed to permit land assembly,

attract desirable development, and pro-

mote a pedestrian-riendly downtown.

The City Council has now approved the

TOD overlay district proposed by the

project partners.

The City o Harvey also plans to use the

Full Circle tools to interview business owners

about their concerns or and interests in down-

town redevelopment, and to collect additional

inormation on hours o operation, length

o tenure, mode o transportation used by

customers, and trac and parking issues.

Improving Access to Quality Food

in Logan Square

In another innovative application o the Full

Circle system, the Logan Square Chamber

o Commerce has worked or several years to

encourage business development that meets

the need or good-quality groceries and pro-

duce in this underserved Chicago neighbor-

hood. In the spring and summer o 2006,

chamber sta used the Business Survey tool

to gather inormation on the types and loca-

tions o more than 1,100 businesses, includ-

ing ood retailers (see gure 4). They also

catalogued vacant business sites. The cham-

ber then used the mapsillustrating poten-

tial store locations as well as inormation

on demographics and customer habits

to approach a small-ormat natural oods

grocer that had recently entered the region.

The chamber also partnered with a

citywide public health advocacy group, the

Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicagos

Children, to survey the availability o reshoods in the neighborhood. These new, more

granular data are helping the organizations

clariy the challenges and opportunities

around providing Logan Square residents

better access to healthy oods.

Preserving Historic Bungalows

in Chicago Lawn

In the Chicago Lawn neighborhood, the

Greater Southwest Development Corporation

(GSDC) used the Full Circle tools to connect

low-income homeowners with resources to

preserve their homes. Between 1910 and

figure 4

Mapping Logan Square Businesses and vacant Sites

helped Identiy Prime Locations or Grocery Stores

Source: Chicago Metropolitan Agency or Planning (CMAP), Logan Square Chamber o Commerce


16/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

figure 5

historic Bungalows Are Scattered Trougout te Cicago Lawn Area

Source: Chicago Metropolitan Agencyor Planning (CMAP), Greater South-

west Development Corporation


17/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1940, Chicago architects built thousands o

one-and-a-hal-story, detached brick homes

in an area now called the bungalow belt. In

2000, the city launched the Historic ChicagoBungalow Initiative to support the preserva-

tion and upgrading o these homes through

a certication process, design guidelines or

rehabilitation, and access to technical and

nancial assistance.

GSDC knew that the resources o the

bungalow initiative could contribute to hous-

ing stabilization in the community o Chicago

Lawn. The certication process is ree and

simple, qualiying owners or up to $8,500

worth o subsidies. But GSDC had no way

to determine the number o eligible Chicago-

style bungalows in the area.

In the summer o 2005, GSDC used the

Full Circle handheld devices to collect data

on 2,444 properties in our census tracts in

the community. In addition, the CDC ob-

tained the list o certied bungalows rom

the city and CMAP geocoded the data to

incorporate the inormation into the Parcel

Pointer system (see gure 5).

Inventorying the bungalows in the

community and overlaying this inormation

with the city data revealed that only 158 o

the areas 1,422 Chicago-style bungalows

were certied. GSDC conducted targeted

outreach and marketing o the home im-

provement grants using letters, fyers, home

visits, and inormational meetings attended

by nearly 300 residents. To date, these eorts

have resulted in 200 new applications or

bungalow certication.

Additional Applications

Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation

a high-capacity, resident-driven CDC work-

ing in Chicagos transitioning northwest

neighborhoodshas used the Full Circle

system extensively in its housing and com-

munity organizing work. For example, sta

and interns collected data on land use and

building conditions in two census tracts slated

or zoning re-map (see gure 6). The maps

helped the community determine that the

current zoning was appropriate and to makerecommendations to the city.

Bickerdike sta also logged the 1,063

housing units it has built in the community

into the system, creating maps that have been

invaluable or internal strategic planning as

well as or demonstrating the CDCs impact

to potential unders. Bickerdike is currently

using the Full Circle tools to document vacant

land parcels and collaborate with other local

organizations to identiy land or the First

Community Land Trust o Chicago, which

will preserve aordable housing and increase

community control over development in

the Humboldt Park neighborhood.

While most Full Circle projects ocus

on the neighborhood or community level,

CMAP recently joined in a collaborative

eort to preserve aordable rental housing

throughout the city. Led by the Urban Land

Institute with support rom the MacArthur

Foundation, the Preservation Compact is a

plan to preserve 75,000 aordable rentals in

Using Full Circle tools,

Greater Soutwest

Deelopment Corporation

was able to connect

low-income bungalow

owners in Cicago

Lawn to city unds or

upgrading teir omes.


18/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chicago that could be lost to condominium

conversion, demolition, or rising costs. CMAP,

along with the city and DePaul University,

is assisting in the development o a rental

data clearinghouse and early warning sys-

tem to identiy at-risk properties. The data

collection eort builds on a study by Lake-

side Community Development Corporation

that tracked condominium conversions in

the Rogers Park and West Ridge communi-

ties through a combination o administra-

tive parcel data and eld surveys.

CMAP will provide the group training

and support in the use o the Full Circle

system, along with new county assessor data

estimating condo conversions based on changes

in land use codes. These new data will be

used to identiy multiamily rentals that

are undervalued in neighborhoods with a

strong or strengthening condo market. A

team will use the early warning system and

the Full Circle tools to monitor condo con-

versions and analyze contributing actors

in eight to ten neighborhoods.

figure 6

Te Surey o Building Conditions Inormed te Zoning Re-Map

Source: Bickerdike Redevelopment

Corporation and Northeastern Illinois

Planning Commission


19/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Strategically located on the CuyahogaRiver at the southern shore o Lake Erie,

Cleveland was one o the countrys great

industrial centers. With the decline o heavy

manuacturing, the city has gradually shited

to a knowledge- and service-based economy.

While public-private eorts attempted to

revitalize the downtown in the 1990s, the

stagnant regional economy has let the city

struggling to overcome population decline

and a deteriorating job base. The weakness

o real estate markets is a particular problem,leading to widespread housing abandonment

and blight.

Cleveland has built a rich network o

community development institutions to

address these challenges. At the center o

the network is Neighborhood Progress, Inc.

(NPI), an intermediary ounded in 1988 to

coordinate philanthropic and civic invest-

ments in the citys 36 neighborhoods. NPIprovides 14 o the citys 40 or so commu-

nity development corporations (CDCs) with

operating support and research assistance,

training and capacity-building services,

nancing or both residential and commer-

cial projects, and development services or

larger-scale projects. Funding comes rom

local philanthropies including the Cleveland

Foundation, the George Gund Foundation,

and the Mandel Foundation, as well as rom

Living Cities (ormerly the National Com-munity Development Initiative).

The Strategic Investment Initiative

NPIs Strategic Investment Initiative (SII),

a bold, long-term plan to catalyze market

recovery in six neighborhoods, is the most

comprehensive data-driven community

development eort under way in the city.

CLEvELAND, OhIOFosing Nigboood M rcovy


20/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The healthy neighborhood strategy ocuses on neighborhoods that

are in the middle, with real estate markets that are unctioning

but weak. The market-building approach works on the demand side,

investing in existing homes and inrastructure while engaging residents

in eorts to revive real estate values and strengthen the social abric

o communities. The goal is to ensure the neighborhoods remain

places where people want to live, visit, work, and invest.

Principles underlying this approach include:

Strategic targeting o neighborhoods with the potential to

be regionally competitive;

Working with rather than against housing market trends,

with the aim o infuencing the spending decisions o current

residents as well as those o potential newcomers;

Promoting the potential or wealth creation among both

existing and new homeowners; and

Managing the downside risks o market improvement,

such as gentrication and displacement.

box 3

healty NeigboroodsAn Emerging Approacto Building Strong, Sustainable Communities

Sources: Boehlke (2004); Burns (2006).

Parcel-level data on property conditions and

transactions, provided by the Center on

Urban Poverty and Community Develop-

ment at Case Western Reserve UniversitysMandel School o Applied Social Sciences,

play an integral role in the initiative.

Launched in 2004, SII ocuses resources

intensively in a ew areas that have the best

chance o becoming regionally competitive

neighborhoods o choice (Proscio 2003).

The goal is to demonstrate that targeted

improvements can oster a genuine market

turnaround (see box 2). The six neighbor-

hoods were selected based on their location

assets, a CDC with a proven track record o

success, and a proposal or an anchor project

o sucient scale to catalyze additional

private development. In addition to NPIs

general operating assistance grants (ranging

rom $60,000 to $150,000 per year), each

SII neighborhood received $466,000 per

year or operating support and inormation

resources, technical assistance, and training.

The primary activities in the SII neigh-

borhoods are developing land assembly plans

to acquire vacant properties around the

anchor projects, and implementing model

blocks within smaller areas adjacent to the

anchor projects. The model block concept

based on the successul healthy neigh-

borhoods approach taken in Baltimore,

Philadelphia, and elsewhererests on the

principle that making small yet visible im-

provements to properties and streets (such

as landscaping, pole lighting, and decora-

tive house numbering) can restore condence

in the neighborhood and engage residents

in the revitalization process (see box 3).

Integrating Parcel Data into SII

The Center on Urban Poverty and Commu-

nity Development at Case Western is a key

SII partner. The center is a regional data inter-

mediary that has maintained a neighborhood-

level inormation systemNortheast Ohio

1. Focus on broad market outcomes rather than on producing

housing units

2. Precise, narrow targeting

3. Comprehensive plans

4. High-impact anchor projects

5. Development o model blocks to complement the anchor projects

6. Acquisition o land and vacant/abandoned properties

7. Provision o comprehensive amenities and services through

strategic partnerships

8. Attention to marketing and market competitiveness

9. Dedicated stang at the CDC

10. New partnership between NPI and the CDCs

box 2

Key Caracteristics o Cleelands StrategicInestment Initiatie (SII)


21/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Community and Neighborhood Data or

Organizing, or NEO CANDOor 17

counties in northeastern Ohio since 1992.

A parcel-level system or Cuyahoga Countywas added in 2005. Updated monthly, NEO

CANDO contains data on property con-

ditions, ownership, and values, as well as

indicators o vacancy and abandonment

(e.g., utility shutos and low water usage).

Property data rom NEO CANDO and

other sources provide the basis or decision

making or SIIs land assembly team. This

group o technical experts works regularly

with the participating CDCs to carry out land

assembly planning and devise acquisition

and preservation strategies. The team includes

an attorney at the Urban Development Law

Clinic at Cleveland State University, one

or more part-time law student interns, the

developer o the NEO CANDO data sys-

tem, and two NPI sta members.

The center provides a number o data

products to inorm the land assembly teams

monthly meetings, including a prioritized

list o blighted properties, a series o parcel

maps, and a spreadsheet or each SII neigh-

borhood, along with an investigative guide

to direct and record additional research on

specic properties. At the meetings, leaders

rom the CDCs review the data products to

determine targets or acquisition, track the

status o eorts, and decide what additional

actions to take. Law clinic students conduct

research on the priority properties, ollowing

the investigative guide or gathering inor-

mation rom the NEO CANDO system

and other public and private sources o

property data.

All o the tools are housed in a shared

Web space provided by the center and acces-

sible to team members rom their desktops.

The same parcel data and maps created or

and regularly updated through the land

assembly team process also underlie model

block development, neighborhood planning,

and resident engagement strategies in

each o the SII neighborhoods.

Community Organizingin Slavic Village

Slavic Village, one o Clevelands oldest

neighborhoods, is an SII target or market

recovery. Settled in the mid-nineteenth cen-

tury by Polish and Czech immigrants work-

ing in the nearby textile and steel mills, the

community has undergone a major demo-

graphic shit as many residents have moved

to homes in the suburbs or passed away. The

areas housing market is extremely distressed,

with high rates o predatory lending, mort-

gage raud, and property fipping (see gure

7). In June 2007, Slavic Village had the

highest number o oreclosure lings in

the country (Christie 2007).

Slavic Village is also home to Slavic Vil-

lage Development, one o Clevelands largest,

highest-capacity CDCs. For over two decades,

the organization has worked to revitalize the

neighborhood and engage residents in its

Slaic village

Deelopment under-

takes community

building in a neig-

borood tat was

especially ard-it

by te mortgage

oreclosure crisis.


22/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

figure 7

Maps Track SII Actiities and Foreclosure Filings in Slaic village

Source: NEO CANDO (2007);

prepared by the Center on

Urban Poverty and Community

Development, Mandel School

o Applied Social Sciences,

Case Western Reserve

University, Cleveland


23/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

activities. In addition to their housing and

retail development activities, CDC sta

provide assistance to the more than 35 block

clubs that meet monthly to address neigh-borhood issues such as saety and housing.

The block groups provide a connection to

the SII initiative, serving as a orum where

residents can identiy problem properties

or demolition or other actions.

Through SII, Slavic Village Development

has been acquiring properties around Mor-

gana Run, a 135-unit, $35 million market-

rate residential development located next to

a new 20-mile bike path on a ormer rail line

that connects the neighborhood to Cuyahoga

Valley National Park. The CDC also targets

home improvements in the adjacent model

block zone. While CDC sta were data-

savvy prior to SII, the initiative has helped

them incorporate mapping into their work,

which they have ound to be a valuable

analytical and communications tool.

What is most remarkable about the SII

eort in Slavic Village, however, is the level

o community action it has generated. In

late 2006, two local leadersan attorney

and an active member o the citywide East

Side Organizing Projectand more than 30

residents ormed the Vacant Property Task

Force. The group meets regularly with NPI

and representatives rom the citys Code

Enorcement Department to address mort-

gage raud, property fipping, and related

community issues.

Based on a suggestion rom the attorney,

the NEO CANDO sta developed an inno-

vative way to nd individuals who abuse the

system. By overlaying mortgage loan trans-

action data on buyer-seller combinations

with oreclosure lings, the team was able to

identiy a specic person who was fipping

properties on a massive scale. This individ-

ual would take out subprime loans to buy

up homes at sheris sales, make cosmetic

repairs, and then sell the units to another

individual who also obtained subprime

nancing. The buyer immediately deaulted

on the loan, sending the properties back into

oreclosure. The two then divvied up theprots, leaving the lenders with unpaid

mortgages and adding to the neighbor-

hoods high vacancy rates.

The evidence was enough to capture the

attention o the state attorney general and

the county prosecutor, who is now pursuing

legal action. Members o the resident task

orce are currently at work on a white paper

describing how they uncovered these destabil-

izing orces in their neighborhood, which

they will share with other communities

acing similar issues.

Additional Applications

As SII entered its second three-year phase

in July 2007, oreclosure prevention became

a new priority. To develop an early warning

system, the Center on Urban Poverty and

Community Development added oreclosure

lings rom the Cuyahoga County Court

and water shuto data rom the utilities

company to the NEO CANDO system (see

gure 8). I a oreclosure proceeding has

been led on a property and the water is

still on, resources can be directed to help the

owner retain the home. I a proceeding has

been led and the water has been shut o,

the property is likely to be abandoned and

thereore becomes a priority or an interven-

tion such as landbanking or redevelopment.

Property data are also inorming other

neighborhood improvement eorts in Cleve-

land. The National Vacant Properties Cam-

paign, along with local partners NPI and

the Cleveland Neighborhood Development

Coalition, initiated a citywide eort to re-

claim vacant properties or productive use.

These organizations convened the Vacant

and Abandoned Property Action Council,

which includes leaders rom the public

and private sectors involved in preventing,


24/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

reclaiming, and redeveloping abandoned

properties. One o the councils goals is to

continue to strengthen the NEO CANDO

parcel data system.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson also

continues to support the SII approach by

incorporating certain elements into citywide

revitalization eorts. Jackson launched a

new neighborhood reinvestment strategy in

early 2007 with the goal o creating mixed-

income communities o choice. To assess

current conditions, the city developed a

neighborhood typology based on the anal-

ysis o seven property characteristics. Much

o the data came rom the NEO CANDO

system. Neighborhoods were categorized

in one o ve ways: regional choice, stable,

transitional, ragile, and distressed (City

o Cleveland 2007).

This typology is being used to align limited

public investments such as home repair loans

and code enorcement with specic neigh-

borhood conditions. Jackson has also launched

eorts to help local CDCs stabilize property

markets, including tripling the citys demoli-

tion budget and allocating resources to the

creation o model blocks in transitional

and ragile neighborhoods.

figure 8

Combining Water Suto and Foreclosure Data helps Target Properties and Determine Appropriate Interentions

Source: NEO CANDO (2007); prepared by the Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development,

Mandel School o Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland


25/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

MINNEAPOLISST. PAUL, MINNESOTASing Insiion nd poicy Soions o rgion Cngs

The Twin Cities metropolitan areawhichincludes the central cities o Minneapolis

and St. Paul, Minnesota, along with more

than 300 local and regional governments

is one o the strongest regional economies in

the country, but rapid growth has created a

number o challenges. The combination o

concentrated poverty and urban decline in

the 1980s, subsequent middle-class fight to

the suburbs, and policies avoring the move-

ment o people and jobs to the suburban

ringe have strained the regions inrastruc-

ture and contributed to social and racial

inequities. Employment centers are increas-

ingly ar rom the urban core, resulting in

longer commutes, growing congestion, and

limited access to jobs or people o color,

who tend to live in the central cities. The

large and growing immigrant population

rom places as diverse as Mexico, Southeast

Asia, and sub-Saharan Aricaalso lacksaccess to opportunities.

Communities and government agencies

recognized that neighborhood and parcel-

level data were needed to understand and

address these complex dynamics. Moreover,

the data had to cover not only the two cen-

tral cities, but also the seven counties that

make up the region. Three institutions have

been crucial in building a strong inrastruc-

ture or parcel-level data sharing in the Twin

Cities: the Center or Urban and Regional

Aairs (CURA) at the University o Min-

nesota, the City o Minneapolis, and the

regional data intermediary MetroGIS.

Building the Urban and Regional

Data Inrastructure

As an applied research center, CURA links

the resources and tools o the university to


26/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

System (MNIS) receives nightly parcel-level

data updates rom the city assessor, plan-

ning, and inspection department databases.

The system is a collaborative project o thecity, CURA, and community users. The city

maintains the hardware, CURA provides

the programming and user support, and

neighborhood organizations sit on the

steering committee in exchange or training,

project assistance, GIS expertise, and access

to property inormation. Since 2001, 25

groupsat least hal o the neighborhoods

in the cityhave participated. Although

the MNIS-equivalent does not yet exist in

St. Paul, several community organizations

have ormed the St. Paul Community GIS

Consortium, providing users access to

St. Paul/Ramsey County data.

MinneapolisSt. Paul is also home to one

o the strongest regional data collaboratives

in the country. MetroGIS emerged rom the

well-developed system o regional gover-

nance. The Metropolitan Council was

nonprot organizations, businesses, neigbor-

hoods, local governments, and state agencies.

The center has led the charge in bringing

new inormation technologies to bear onurban and regional issues, and is widely recog-

nized as the go-to resource or geographic

data and mapping. Along with advanced

tools to assist with problem analysis and

decision making, CURA provides technical

assistance to ensure community institutions

can access and apply those tools eectively.

In 2001 the City o Minneapolis received

a three-year ederal Technology Opportu-

nities Program (TOP) grant to work with

CURA to develop an integrated property

database to address housing deterioration

and abandonment. This system combined

the citys eorts at neighborhood-based

planning through its 20-year Neighborhood

Revitalization Program (NRP) and its goal

to create an enterprise GIS system.

Implemented in late 2002, the Web-based

Minneapolis Neighborhood Inormation

Te Stadium Area

Adisory Group (SAAG)

discusses preliminary

fndings rom community

meetings regarding te

Uniersity o Minnesotas

relationsip wit

adjacent neigboroods.


27/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

established in 1967 to coordinate planning

and development within the metro area and

to address interjurisdictional issues. In 1994,

the Metropolitan Reorganization Act greatlyexpanded the councils mandate to include

all regional sewer, transportation, and land

use planning (Oreld 1997).

That same year, the council took the lead

in organizing and sponsoring a regional data

collaborative. Launched in 1995, MetroGIS

is a stakeholder-governed mechanism or

sharing geographic data in the region. The

intermediary coordinates the production,

maintenance, and documentation o re-

gional data and provides a one-stop shop

the DataFinder Web siteor inormation

clipped to specic geographic boundaries

(Johnson 2005). Ater many years o nego-

tiations, MetroGIS secured data-sharing

agreements with each o the seven counties

or a regional parcel layer with a set o

common attributes.

This extensive inrastructure has made it

possible to develop new applications o parcel

data or a variety o urban and regional issues.

This case study ocuses on two areas o com-

munity development practice and policy:

the impacts o universities on neighborhood

property markets, and the prevention o

widespread mortgage oreclosures.

Resolving Town-Gown Conficts

Like other large universities and medical

centers, the University o Minnesota plays

a major role in shaping the physical, social,

and cultural environment o Minneapolis.

Its campus is a vibrant center where tens

o thousands o students and residents con-

verge daily to work, learn, and socialize. At

the same time, the universitys size, control

over land use and development, and plans

or expansion have put pressures on the hous-

ing markets and inrastructure in surround-

ing neighborhoods. These pressures have

grown in recent years as the university has

sought to expand dormitory space to increase

the proportion o students living on campus.

When the state passed legislation in 2006

to und construction o the universitys new

ootball stadium, the bill required the insti-

tution to assess its impacts on neighboring

communities and provide consensus recom-

mendations or action. The committee es-

tablished to implement this mandate, the

Stadium Area Advisory Group, was made

up o representatives o community organi-

zations, business associations, local govern-

ment, the state air, and university students.

CURA was responsible or conducting data

and mapping analyses o the our surround-

ing neighborhoods that together contain

35,500 people, 4,080 parcels, and 11,865

housing units. A variety o parcel-level data

inormed the analysis, including past and

Many single-amily

omes around te

Uniersity o Minnesota

ae been conerted

to student ousing.


28/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

current housing tenure and market value, as

well as current land use, age and condition

o the stock, demolitions, and university data

on the residential locations o aculty and sta.

A number o important insights emerged.

Increased demand or student housing was

being met through both new construction

o private rental units and conversion o

single-amily homes. The study team deter-

mined that 224 properties in the our neigh-

borhoods had been converted between 2000

and 2006. Some investor-landlords wereturning older single-amily homes into

rooming houses, while others were demol-

ishing the original buildings to build poor-

quality, multi-bedroom structures. About

a quarter o the conversions were due to

relative homesteading (see gure 9). In

these cases, parents o students purchase

properties or their children to live in during

their university years. Because the units are

not subject to rental constraints, several

students oten live together in the units.

Many o the new rental properties were

thereore either illegal or violated housing

codes, and the citys inspections/code

enorcement sta had not inspected the

housing. These conditions contributed to

an articial rise in single-amily property

values, eroding aordability and deterring

amilies rom purchasing homes in the area. New understanding o these housingmarket impacts was achieved through an

iterative process. The university researchers

brought their initial data analyses and maps

to vet with members o the task orce, which

included representatives rom the citys plan-

ning and public works departments, the

primary neighborhood development organi-

zations, and the Oce o University Rela-

tions. The group met once every week or

two over a ve-month period. Team mem-

bers also engaged additional community

stakeholders in the process, meeting with

every neighborhood organization and

business group in the area at least once.

Vetting the initial ndings with neighbor-

hood stakeholders helped the study team

veriy the inormation and rene their re-

search questions. At times, they discovered

rom residents that the city data on owner-

ship or other property characteristics were

inaccurate. The process also revealed the

figure 9

Mapping Reealed te Growing Incidence

o Relatie homesteading

Data Source: City o

Minneapolis (2006); map

created by the Center orUrban and Regional Aairs

(CURA) at the University

o Minnesota


29/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

relative homesteading phenomenon, which

the study team was then able to investigate

and map.

The data and maps also helped task orcemembers crat solutions. For example, the

maps showing the residences o university

aculty and sta in the our neighborhoods

pointed to some possible approaches to stabi-

lizing the area (see gure 10). One strategy

would be or the university to oer incen-

tives to employees to live in the near-campus

neighborhoods, as urban institutions else-

where have done (Hoereth et al. 2007).

In addition, the data made clear that the

our neighborhoods, while diverse in their

socioeconomic and housing characteristics,

were similarly aected by their proximity to

the university. But because o the devolved

system o neighborhood planning in the city,

the Neighborhood Revitalization Program

unded each area separately. The impact

analysis suggested that the our neighbor-

hoods could better address their common

issues through a coordinated eort.

The University o Minnesota, the City

o Minneapolis, and the Stadium Area Advi-

sory Group ultimately recommended that

the legislature declare a University Commu-

nity Partnership District that would include

the our neighborhoods and create an alli-

ance governed by university, city, and neigh-

borhood representatives. In May 2007,

Governor Tim Pawlenty signed a higher

education bill that included an allocation

o $750,000 to establish the University o

MinnesotaMinneapolis Area Neighbor-

hood Alliance.

Meanwhile, the city and the university

agreed to take immediate action. The citys

Department o Regulatory Services commit-

ted to inspecting all rental properties within

the University Community Partnership Dis-

trict in 20072008. The university also agreed

to conduct training or students on tenant

rights and responsibilities, and to explore a

figure 10

Te Uniersity Used Parcel Data to AnalyzeFaculty and Sta housing

Parcel homestead Status

U Employee

Parcels

All Parcels % Employee

Parcel o All

HomesteadNon-Homestead

185156

54%48%

2,5441,536

62%38%

7.3%10.2%

Total 341 4,080

uture partnership with one or more o

the public schools in the district.

In addition to orming an innovative

university-community collaboration, the

initiative resulted in other important

Data Source: Minneapolis Neighborhood

Inormation System (MNIS) and the University

o Minnesota (2006); map created by theCenter or Urban and Regional Aairs (CURA)

at the University o Minnesota.


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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

outcomes. Participants in the meetings

gained a shared understanding o why the

neighborhoods were experiencing decline.

The process brought stakeholder groupsthat were unused to working together into

new partnerships. City sta members who

initially came to the meetings as observers

over time became engaged participants.

Once the university saw how its uture as

a top-tier research institution was linked to

conditions in the surrounding neighbor-

hoods, it became much more involved in

community issues. And nally, all o these

activities sent a warning to landlords that

neighborhood residents were taking back

control o their community.

Responding to the Mortgage

Foreclosure Crisis

While mortgage oreclosures in and around

the Twin Cities were clearly on the rise in

2006, the extent o the problem and its root

causes were largely unknown. Recognizing

the need to address the problem regionwide,

representatives rom Minneapolis and St.

Paul, along with seven nonprot housing

development, policy, and unding organiza-

tions, ormed the Foreclosure Prevention

Funders Council in February 2007. The

councils goals were to identiy oreclosures

and determine the causes; coordinate nan-

cial resources to ocus on oreclosures; and

create new nancing and innovative reme-

diation and rehabilitation tools to address

the problems associated with vacant and

boarded buildings.

Creating an inormation inrastructure

was a critical rst step in achieving these

goals. HousingLink, a regional air hous-

ing data intermediary and member o the

council, partnered with CURA to take on

the arduous task o data collection. Assem-

bling the inormation involved collecting

data on sheris sales (public auctions o

oreclosed properties) rom seven counties,

six o which had only paper records.

Although Hennepin County did maintain

electronic records o sheris sales, the les

lacked some o the key data elements thatthen had to be obtained rom the county

recorders oce. HousingLink also collected

mortgage documents on oreclosed proper-

ties rom that oce.

With these data in hand, HousingLink

was able to determine that the number o

regionwide oreclosures had nearly doubled

(rom 3,759 to 7,039) in 20052006, with

increases ranging rom 47 percent in Carver

County to 125 percent in Ramsey County.

The problem was highly concentrated: 44

percent were located in Hennepin County,

with hal in Minneapolis and hal o those

in North Minneapolis (see gure 11). In

addition, ully 80 percent o the oreclosed

homes had mortgages that were one to ve

years old, and 14 percent had mortgages

that were less than one year old.

The Foreclosure Prevention Funders

Council met biweekly to discuss such nd-

ings and develop interventions, provide re-

sources or homeowners acing oreclosure

proceedings, and limit the negative side

eects o vacant properties. The diculties

with data access led the council to develop

shared solutions and begin discussions with

the regional and state sheris associations

on opportunities to streamline collection.

In the summer o 2007, the council expand-

ed to a statewide ocus, adopted the name

Minnesota Foreclosure Partners Council,

and worked with HousingLink to gather and

map sheris sales data rom every Minne-

sota county.Additional Applications

The City o Minneapolis is now working

with the Minnesota Foreclosure Partners

Council and CURA to retool the MNIS

system to identiy at-risk properties. The

early warning system will build on research


31/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

figure 11

Foreclosures Are Concentrated in hennepin County and Particularly Nort Minneapolis

Source: HousingLink (Joel Larson, cartographer) or the Foreclosure Prevention Funders Council

Note: This map represents 674 of the 695 sheriffs

sales in December 2006 for the seven-county metro-

politan region (97 percent). The number of sales

is shown below each county or city name.

Data Sources: December 2006 sheris sales

or seven counties (HousingLink); city, township,

and county boundaries (Metropolitan Council)


32/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

on the neighborhood-level correlates o

oreclosures to create a more accurate

parcel-level model. Graduate students in

community development at the University

o Minnesota are using public data on

housing condition, estimated market value,

and last sale date/price to develop and

test the model.

Another innovative application o parceldata under way in MinneapolisSt. Paul is

Minnesota 3-D (M3D). This TOP-unded

project is a dynamic, Internet-based GIS

application that integrates labor market,

housing, and development data or the metro

area into a single tool or economic and com-

munity developers. The M3D project is a

partnership between CURA and the states

Department o Employment and Economic

Development (DEED), with additional sup-

port rom various local and regional govern-

ment agencies.

Finally, the U-PLAN Community Plan-

ning Studio, a partnership o community

groups led by the University United coali-

tion, the University o Minnesota, and the

St. Paul Design Center, is using MetroGIS

data to engage local businesses and resi-

dents in planning or a proposed light rail

line that would connect downtown St. Paul

and downtown Minneapolis. This storeront

planning center uses mapping, visualization

tools, and data to help people visualize and

plan or transit-oriented development

projects (see gure 12).

figure 12

U-PLAN Engages Area Residents in Transit Corridor Planning

Source: U-PLAN Community Planning Studio,

St. Paul; prepared or Stops or Us


33/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

PhILADELPhIA, PENNSYLvANIAtging Oc nd Invsmn Sgis

Philadelphia stands at a critical moment in

the cycle o urban decline and renewal. Down-

town Center City is experiencing a major

surge in real estate development, a drop in

crime rates, and a return to a vibrant urban

culture. New investment is spilling over into

surrounding communities, with some neigh-

borhoods seeing dramatic upgrades as

private developers arrive or the rst time

in decades.

But sustained growth is uncertain andnot all Philadelphians have beneted rom

the revitalization successes. Unemployment

remains high, the suburbs still capture most

new job growth, and many neighborhoods

in the city and inner-ring suburbs continue

to battle blight, abandonment, and distress

(Whiting and Proscio 2007; Mallach 2006).

Tens o thousands o vacant buildings and

lots are visible reminders o the citys

ongoing challenges.

While or many years the citys political

leaders ocused primarily on downtownredevelopment, broader neighborhood


34/52


. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

revitalization is now rmly on the citys

agenda. The ve-year Neighborhood Trans-

ormation Initiative (NTI), launched in 2001

by ormer mayor John Street, providednearly $350 million in municipal bonds and

city operating dollars to acquire vacant and

abandoned properties, demolish dangerous

buildings, and prepare sites or redevelop-

ment (Fox and Treuhat 2005). Data on the

citys 560,000 parcels have been a crucial

input or community organizations, com-

munity development intermediaries, policy

institutes, government agency employees,

and researchers as they analyze, develop,

implement, and evaluate revitalization eorts.

The Philadelphia Neighborhood

Inormation System

Created in 1998 by the Cartographic Model-

ing Laboratory (CML) at the University o

Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Neighbor-

hood Inormation System (NIS) was one o

the rst Web-based systems to gather map-

pable data rom multiple administrative agen-

cies at a variety o geographies. The system

includes ve applications:

ParcelBase, a password-protected data-

base that provides housing and real estate

data at the parcel level;

NeighborhoodBase, an open-access database

o aggregated property data and socio-

demographic data or a number o

geographies;

MuralBase, which locates and describes

murals located throughout the city;

CrimeBase, which provides crime data at

a variety o geographies; and

SchoolBase, which provides an array o

school perormance and assessment data.

Unlike many community inormation

systems, the Ph

transforming community development with land information systems

Documents