50th Percentile Rent Estimates

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Rent estimates at the 50th percentile (or median) for all Fair Market Rent areas provided by the HUD Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) and HUD USER- an information source for housing and community development researchers, academics, policymakers, and the American public.

Filed under: Data


A community-driven redevelopment project begins in Mumbai.
 

November 17, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


A defense of “ruin porn” photography of decaying cities.

February 15, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


A ghost city in Angola--built by the Chinese. 

July 25, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


A report on the concentrated poverty that persists in New York.  

April 12, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


African Center for Cities

University of Capetown
The African Centre for Cities (ACC) is an interdisciplinary research and teaching program focused on quality scholarship regarding the dynamics of unsustainable urbanization processes in Africa, with an eye on identifying systemic responses.

Filed under: Organizations


American Housing Survey (AHS)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The AHS is the largest, regular national housing sample survey in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the AHS to obtain up-to-date housing statistics for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). An introductory booklet created by Census Bureau provides an overview of housing data. 

Filed under: Data


American Planning Association (APA)

APA is an independent, not-for-profit educational organization that provides leadership in the development of vital communities. The American Planning Association was created in 1978 by the consolidation of two separate planning organizations, but its roots go all the way back to 1909 and the first National Conference on City Planning in Washington, D.C.

Filed under: Organizations


Are Promise Neighborhoods worth the cost?

In May 2010, President Barack Obama announced a request for $210 million in federal funding for the Promise Neighborhoods Program, an effort to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) model in twenty cities across the United States.

March 01, 2011

Filed under: Issues


Assisted Housing: National and Local

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Picture of Subsidized Households describes the households living in HUD-subsidized housing in the United States for the year providing data from the 1970s through 2008. There is information describing the characteristics of assisted housing units and residents, summarized at various levels, including: national, state, public housing agency (PHA), project, census tract, county, Core-Based Statistical Area and city levels.

Filed under: Data


Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM)

The Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving public policy and management by fostering excellence in research, analysis and education.  With over 1,500 academic, practitioner, organizational and institutional members, APPAM promotes its mission through the annual Fall Research Conference, with the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM), the association's journal, several award programs and various activites including international and national conferences and workshops.

Filed under: Organizations


At 420,000 people, the number of New York City public housing residents is greater than the population of Atlanta.

September 10, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


British Household Panel Survey

Economic and Social Data Service
The British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) is carried out by ISER at the University of Essex. The main objective of the survey is to further understanding of social and economic change at the individual and household level in Britain, to identify, model and forecast such changes, their causes and consequences in relation to a range of socio-economic variables.
The BHPS provides information on household organiaation, employment, accommodation, tenancy, income and wealth, housing, health, socio-economic values, residential mobility, marital and relationship history, social support, and individual and household demographics.

Filed under: Data


Brookings releases report on the effect of transit systems on the pool of available workers.

July 18, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Census UK

Economic and Social Data Service
UK Census data.

Filed under: Data


Center for an Urban Future

The Center for an Urban Future is a public policy organization dedicated to improving the overall health of New York City and serving its long-term interests by targeting problems facing low-income and working-class neighborhoods in all five boroughs.

A new kind of think tank, the Center brings a unique, community-oriented perspective to the public policy arena. Our staffers function more like beat reporters than like academics, going out into the field to observe and interview neighborhood residents, local businesspeople and community organizations. We also consult with academic experts, government officials and others, in order to get the broadest possible view of an issue or problem, and to hear from all those affected by it.

Filed under: Organizations


Center for Human Potential and Public Policy

University of Chicago
Center at the Harris School focused on trans-disciplinary research and training on achievement, health, and well-being across the lifespan. 

Filed under: Organizations


Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT)

Since 1978, Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) has promoted urban sustainability—the more effective use of existing resources and community assets to improve the health of natural systems and the wealth of people, today and in the future. CNT is a creative think-and-do tank that combines rigorous research with effective solutions. CNT works across disciplines and issues, including transportation and community development, energy, water, and climate change.

Filed under: Organizations


Center for Urban and Regional Studies

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Created in 1957, the Center for Urban and Regional Studies is one of the oldest university-based research centers of its kind. The Center's mission is to promote and support within UNC-Chapel Hill, high-quality basic and applied research on urban, regional and rural planning and policy issues. The Center seeks to generate new knowledge of urban and regional processes and problems and ultimately to improve living conditions in our communities. This is done by involving the University's faculty and graduate students in large, multidisciplinary research projects and smaller, more narrowly focused projects. The Center's mission also includes promoting the use of the research it facilitates.

Filed under: Organizations


Center for Urban History (Antwerp)

University of Antwerp
The Centre for Urban History at the University of Antwerp (CSG) strives to investigate important aspects of urban culture, economy, religion, politics and institutions from the Middle Ages to the present, in relation to each other and to non-urban structures. Specific research topics on which the Centre places particular emphasis include civil society and urban identities, material culture and urban renaissances; the role of cities as centers of knowledge, creativity and innovation; economic growth and social inequality; migration and urban networks; and the urban living environment in the broadest sense. The geographic emphasis rests on north-western Europe, but always in an international and comparative perspective.

Filed under: Organizations


Center for Urban Initiatives and Research

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
The Milwaukee Urban Archive is designed as a catalogue of research studies and reports focused on greater Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin. Each catalogued item provides bibliographic information, content abstract, source and, where possible, an electronic link to the report. The catalogue is organized by topical categories.

Filed under: Organizations


Center for Urban Research and Policy—Columbia University

Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs
The Center for Urban Research and Policy (CURP) has been established at a time of profound economic, political, and social change. The civic discourse has become increasingly anti-urban with fewer opportunities for informed non-partisan dialogue. Political leaders and ordinary citizens need reliable policy research, training in technology, and opportunities for public discussion on issues of concern to America’s cities. As an internationally known research university located in New York City, Columbia has a special responsibility to make a substantial contribution to these efforts. CURP promises to fulfill this responsibility by becoming a national resource for education, research, and discussion on issues confronting America’s cities. The Center is engaged in an ambitious program of training, research, and public discussion.

The need for the Center is increasingly apparent in the visible problems and repeated fiscal crises of our cities. Opportunities are evident in the renewed interest in domestic public policy and by an increased willingness by various sectors of society to “do something.” However, greater voice and focus and better dialogue and data are required to create a capacity for more informed discussions which will help influence the larger national agenda in effective policy-making. With the support of the entire Columbia community, the Center and its programs draw attention to issues confronting urban America and prepare the nation’s leaders for the challenge of solving these problems. 

Filed under: Organizations


Center for Urban Schooling

University of Toronto
Since its inception, the Centre for Urban Schooling has been involved in a number of research projects and program activities at the school, community, and government levels.  CUS will continue to broaden its research agenda, both locally and globally, in order to contribute to the ever-growing discussion about urban education around the world.

Filed under: Organizations


Chicago Longitudinal Study 1986-1989

Arthur Reynolds, University of Minnesota
Invesitgates the educational development of a same-age cohort of 1,539 low-income, minority children who grew up in high-poverty neighborhoods in central-city Chicago and attended governmental kindergarten programs in the Chicago Public Schools in 1985-1986. Children were at risk of poor outcomes because they face social-environmental disadvantages including negihborhood poverty, family low-income status, and other economic and educational hardships. 

Filed under: Data


Chicago Policy Review

University of Chicago
Since 1996 the Chicago Policy Review (CPR) has published top scholarship in the field of public policy analysis. Initially a forum for renowned scholars and policy experts such as Nobel Laureate James Heckman, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator John McCain, the journal has primarily published the work of students and alumni of the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago since 2006.

The Chicago Policy Review (ISSN: 1093-8990) is edited and published annually by the students of the Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies. By establishing linkages between theory and practice, the Review aims to promote thought provoking, insightful, and relevant public policy decision-making.

Filed under: Journals


Cities Alliance

The Cities Alliance is a global partnership for urban poverty reduction and the promotion of the role of cities in sustainable development.

The Cities Alliance prioritizes support to cities, local authorities, associations of local authorities and/or national governments that are committed to:
• Improving their cities, and local governance, for all residents;
• Adopting a long-term, comprehensive and inclusive approach to urban development;
• Implementing those reforms necessary to effect systemic change, and to achieve delivery at scale; and
• Decentralizing resources to empower local government

Filed under: Organizations


Cities Centre

University of Toronto
Cities Centre is a multi-disciplinary research institute. The mandate of the Centre is broad: to encourage and facilitate research, both scholarly and applied, on cities and on a wide range of urban policy issues, both in Canada and abroad, and to provide a gateway for communication between the University and the broader urban community.

Filed under: Organizations


Cities in the 21st Century

International Honors Program
Cities in the 21st Century program examines the intentional and natural forces that guide the development of the world’s cities. It combines an innovative urban studies academic curriculum with fieldwork involving public agencies, planners, elected officials, NGOs and grassroots groups in important world cities where exciting changes are taking place.

Filed under: Links


Citiwire.net

Citiwire.net's mission is to reflect a new narrative for 21st century cities and regions.   Leaving behind the 20th century pattern of cheap energy, endless automobility, burgeoning suburbs, threatened inner cities.  To a challenge-packed 21st century: energy prices headed north, perilous carbon emissions, deepening have-have not divisions, excruciating social problems and deep challenges in education.  But a time of exciting promise, too: for example rejuvenated downtowns, revival of classic walkable neighborhood form, new citistate-wide consciousness, more protected lands, upgrading rather than bulldozing developing world slums.  Citiwire.net’s quest: to chronicle struggles, illuminate pathways to more vibrant, equitable, sustainable choices for grassroots America and urban regions worldwide.

Filed under: Links


City and Community

American Sociological Association
City & Community aims to advance urban sociological theory, promote the highest quality empirical research on communities and urban social life, and encourage sociological perspectives on urban policy. It welcomes contributions that employ quantitative and qualitative methods as well as comparative and historical approaches. The journal encourages manuscripts exploring the interface of global and local issues, locally embedded social interaction and community life, urban culture and the meaning of place, and sociological approaches to urban political economy. The journal also seeks articles on urban spatial arrangements, social impacts of local natural and built environments, urban and rural inequalities, virtual communities, and other topics germane to urban life and communities that will advance general sociological theory.

Filed under: Journals


CITYNET

For over 20 years, CITYNET (The Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements) has committed itself to helping local governments improve the sustainability of human settlements. Starting with 26 members in 1987, CITYNET has grown to become an international organization of more than 100 members in more than 20 countries, most of which are cities and local governments in the Asia-Pacific region.

Filed under: Organizations


Consolidated Planning/ Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) Data

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) periodically receives "custom tabulations" of Census data from the U.S. Census Bureau that are largely not available through standard Census products. These data, known as the"CHAS" data (Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy), demonstrate the extent of housing problems and housing needs, particularly for low income households. The CHAS data are used by local governments to plan how to spend HUD funds, and may also be used by HUD to distribute grant funds. 

Filed under: Data


Cyberhood

Urban Affairs Association and the Center for Urban Studies at the University at Buffalo
The Cyberhood's mission is to encourage critical thinking about the the plight of communities of color, conditions in the inner city, and the problems of low-wage white workers. The website's goal is to connect students, scholars, practitioners, and activists from across the racial and class divide in order to build meaningful relationships. The building of such connections, we believe, will strengthen the struggle to understand and transform inner cities and the metropolitan regions of which they are a part. 

Filed under: Links


DataPlace

DataPlace is an easy-to-use source of U.S. housing and demographic data from the census tract to the national level. The cite currently contains data from the 1990 and 2000 Censuses, as well as home mortgage, Section 8, and housing needs data. There is useful directory and users can create their own maps. Included topics are mortgage lending, income and employment, housing, health, social and demographic, education, arts, and federal expenditures.

Filed under: Data


Do neighborhood conditions affect school performance?

While social scientists have always been interested in the dynamics behind the low achievement of students living in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods, in recent years researchers have been trying to establish precisely the extent to which neighborhood conditions, net of other factors, influence educational achievement.

March 01, 2012

Filed under: Issues


Does racial segregation hurt the poor?

In their 1993 book, American Apartheid, sociologists Douglas Massey and Nancy Denton exposed the racial segregation of American cities as a core mechanism producing inequality between African Americans and whites. Between 2000 and 2010, the segregation of black and white Americans decreased slightly. Despite this trend, almost two decades after Massey and Denton’s seminal work, American cities are far from being racially integrated.

October 01, 2011

Filed under: Issues


Economic and Social Data Service

The Economic and Social Data Service is a national data archiving and dissemination service in the UK which came into operation in January 2003. The service is a jointly-funded initiative sponsored by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

The ESDS is a distributed service, based on a collaboration between four key centres of expertise:

UK Data Archive (UKDA), University of Essex
Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) , University of Essex
Manchester Information and Associated Services (MIMAS), University of Manchester
Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research (CCSR), University of Manchester

These centres work collaboratively to provide preservation, dissemination, user support and training for an extensive range of key economic and social data, both quantitative and qualitative, spanning many disciplines and themes. The ESDS provides an integrated service offering enhanced support for the secondary use of data across the research, learning and teaching communities.

Filed under: Data


European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions

Economic and Social Data Service
The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) is an instrument aimed at collecting timely and comparable cross-sectional and longitudinal multidimensional microdata on income, poverty and social exclusion. It is the European Union (EU) reference source for comparative statistics on income distribution and social exclusion at European level, particularly in the context of the 'Programme of Community action to encourage cooperation between Member States to combat social exclusion' and for producing structural indicators on social cohesion for the annual spring report to the European Council.

Filed under: Data


Even as Brooklyn has been gentrifying, not all of the borough is so well off.  

October 08, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Food Environment Atlas

Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture
The Atlas assembles statistics on three broad categories of food environment factors:

Food Choices—Indicators of the community's access to and acquisition of healthy, affordable food, such as: access and proximity to a grocery store; number of foodstores and restaurants; expenditures on fast foods; food and nutrition assistance program participation; quantities of foods eaten; food prices; food taxes; and availability of local foods

Health and Well-Being—Indicators of the community’s success in maintaining healthy diets, such as: food insecurity; diabetes and obesity rates; and physical activity levels

Community Characteristics—Indicators of community characteristics that might influence the food environment, such as: demographic composition; income and poverty; population loss; metro-nonmetro status; natural amenities; and recreation and fitness centers

The Atlas currently includes 168 indicators of the food environment. The year and geographic level of the indicators vary to better accommodate data from a variety of sources. Some data are from the last Census of Population in 2000 while others are as recent as 2009. Some are at the county level while others are at the State or regional level. The most recent county-level data are used whenever possible.

Filed under: Links


Government Sponsored Enterprise Data

The Department of Housing and Urban Development publishes a wealth of information on the mortgage purchases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs) that HUD oversees. The GSEs are secondary-market institutions that purchase single-family conventional loans originated in the United States. HUD has established housing goals in accordance with the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 (the 1992 GSE Act). Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are required to meet specified goals for purchases of mortgages that finance housing for very-low-, low- and moderate-income families and families living in areas traditionally underserved by the mortgage market. These new data sets shed light on their efforts and provide additional data for mortgage research.

Filed under: Data


Carolyn Stephens examines the relationship between inequality and urban health in Environment and Urbanization. 

April 22, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Catherine Fennell explores sensory politics through the context of heat use in Chicago public housing projects. 

April 27, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Paris and New York City’s distinctive physical and socioeconomic characteristics are borne out in their different histories

December 16, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Homeless Hub

Building on the success of the Canadian Conference on Homelessness (2005), the Homeless Hub was created to address the need for a single place to find homelessness information from across Canada. Launched in 2007, the Homeless Hub is a web-based research library and information center representing an innovative step forward in the use of technology to enhance knowledge mobilization and networking. The Homeless Hub has emerged as a place where community services providers, researchers, government representatives, and the general public can access and share research, stories, and best practices. 

Filed under: Links


Households Below Average Income UK

Economic and Social Data Service
Households Below Average Income (HBAI) uses household disposable incomes, after adjusting for the household size and composition, as a proxy for material living standards. More precisely, it is a proxy for the level of consumption of goods and services that people could attain given the disposable income of the household in which they live. In order to allow comparisons of the living standards of different types of households, income is adjusted to take into account variations in the size and composition of the households in a process known as equivalisation. A key assumption made in HBAI is that all individuals in the household benefit equally from the combined income of the household. This enables the total equivalised income of the household to be used as a proxy for the standard of living of each household member.

Filed under: Data


Housing Affordability Data System

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The Housing Affordability Data System (HADS) is a set of files derived from the 1985 and later national American Housing Survey (AHS) and the 2002 and later Metro AHS. This system categorizes housing units by affordability and households by income, with respect to the Adjusted Median Income, Fair Market Rent (FMR), and poverty income. It also includes housing cost burden for owner and renter households. These files have been the basis for the worst case needs tables since 2001. The data files are available for public use, since they were derived from AHS public use files and the published income limits and FMRs.

Filed under: Data


How the media portrayed the French banlieues (suburbs) during the 2007 presidential election.

May 24, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


HUD announces that it will award a total of $122 million to five cities to redevelop housing and revitalize blighted neighborhoods through its Choice Neighborhood Implementation Grants.

September 14, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


HUD Income Limits

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
HUD program income limit data.

Filed under: Data


HUD Infographics

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
This section of the HUD USER website highlights the housing data available through interactive infographics. In order to show the wealth of information available from HUD USER Data Sets, these infographics seek to present housing data in new and informative ways.

Filed under: Links


HUD Subprime and Manufactured Home Lender List

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data does not include a field that identifies whether an individual loan application is a subprime or manufactured home loan application. HUD has annually identified a list of lenders who specialize in either subprime or manufactured home lending for over ten years.

Filed under: Data


The Urban Institute releases a report about interventions for the children of depressed mothers living in poverty. 

April 14, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Initiative for Regional and Community Transformation

Rutgers University
The Initiative for Regional and Community Transformation (IRCT) is a university-based effort that helps community residents and leaders in the public and private sectors frame workable policies that will bolster the political, economic, and social participation of marginalized communities within the larger metropolitan community. The IRCT's vision is inclusive. Not only does it encompass concerns for the poor, but leaders of the Initiative also believe that in order for metropolitan regions to support sustainable and livable communities, all sectors of civil society must be involved and see a shared interest.

Filed under: Organizations


Is Philadelphia’s fresh food policy a good model for other cities?

Philadelphia has the second worst ratio of grocery stores to citizens in the country. Residents must often travel long distances to buy food for their families. There is a growing public policy interest in developing a viable solution to the food access issue, as researchers and policy makers increasingly find a relationship between poor food options and diet-related diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and high-blood pressure.

April 18, 2011

Filed under: Issues


Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program

Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy
The Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program was established in 1996 under the direction of William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor. The Program seeks to analyze the effects of increasing urban poverty and joblessness plaguing the inner cities and to ensure that scholarly research plays a critical role in the creation and implementation of national public policy concerning the poor.
Through conferences,seminars, and research activities, the Program agenda focuses on the various social forces and ecological factors that contribute to the marginalization and social isolation of urban populations.

Filed under: Links


Joint Center for Housing Studies

Harvard University
The Joint Center for Housing Studies is Harvard University's center for information and research on housing in the United States. The Joint Center analyzes the dynamic relationships between housing markets and economic, demographic, and social trends, providing leaders in government, business, and the non-profit sector with the knowledge needed to develop effective policies and strategies.

Filed under: Organizations


Journal of Policy Analysis & Management (JPAM)

Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM)
APPAM founded the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM) in 1981 through the merger of two other journals – Policy Analysis and Public Policy. Wiley-Blackwell (formerly John Wiley & Sons) has published JPAM since 1981. The current contract for publishing JPAM runs until the end of 2016. JPAM is published quarterly and is a peer-reviewed research journal. The creation of JPAM fulfilled one of the primary reasons for APPAM's existence: the dissemination of the highest quality, multidisciplinary research in public policy and management. As the Association's journal of record, JPAM's ultimate purpose is building a professional community of scholars and practitioners devoted to more effective policy analysis and public management.

Filed under: Journals


Journal of the American Planning Association

American Planning Association
Since 1935, the quarterly Journal of the American Planning Association has published research, commentaries, and book reviews useful to practicing planners, policy makers, scholars, students, and citizens of urban, suburban, and rural areas. JAPA publishes only peer-reviewed, original research and analysis. It aspires to bring insight to planning the future, to air a variety of perspectives, to publish the highest quality work, and to engage readers.

Filed under: Journals


Journal of Urban History

The Journal of Urban History (JUH), peer-reviewed and published bi-monthly, provides scholars and professionals with the latest research, analyses, and discussion on the history of cities and urban societies throughout the world. JUH presents original research by distinguished authors from the variety of fields concerned with urban history. Each insightful issue offers the latest scholarship on such topics as public housing, migration, urban growth, and more.

Filed under: Journals


London Lives

University of Hertfordshire, University of Sheffield, Economic and Social Research Council, HRI
A searchable resource on crime, poverty, and social policy in London from 1690-1800 featuring 240,000 manuscripts from 8 archives, and 15 datasets, with access to 3.35 million names.

Filed under: Data


Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS)

Rand
The Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS) is a longitudinal study of families in Los Angeles County, California, and of the neighborhoods in which they live. Research suggests that safe, supportive neighborhoods are important for children, teens, and adults. But what makes a neighborhood a positive place to live? L.A. FANS is addressing this questions by comparing the lives of children and adults in a broad range of neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles County. The L.A.FANS focuses on: neighborhood, family, and peer effects on children's development; effects of welfare reform at the neighborhood level; and residential mobility and neighborhood change. The first wave of the L.A.FANS was fielded between 2000 and 2001. Fieldwork for Wave 2 of L.A.FANS was conducted between 2006 and 2008. 

Filed under: Data


Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Database

The LIHTC database, created by HUD and available to the public since 1997, contains information on nearly 31,251 projects and over 1,843,000 housing units placed in service between 1987 and 2007. HUD's database is the only complete national source of information on the size, unit mix, and location of individual projects. The database includes project address, number of units and low-income units, number of bedrooms, year the credit was allocated, year the project was placed in service, whether the project was new construction or rehab, type of credit provided, and other sources of project financing. The database has been geocoded, enabling researchers to look at the geographical distribution and neighborhood characteristics of tax credit projects. 

Filed under: Data


Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy

Harvard University Kennedy School of Government
The Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy is a vibrant intellectual community of faculty, master's and Ph.D. students, researchers, and administrative staff striving to improve public policy and practice in the areas of health care, human services, criminal justice, inequality, education, and labor. The work of the Center draws on the worlds of scholarship, policy, and practice to address pressing questions. Over the last twenty years, the Wiener Center has been an influential voice in domestic policy through faculty work on community policing, welfare reform, youth violence, inner city poverty, youth and the low-wage labor market, American Indian economic and social development, and medical error rates.

Filed under: Organizations


Metropolis

Metropolis is an international network for comparative research and public policy development on migration, diversity, and immigrant integration in cities in Canada and around the world.

The international arm of the Project involves partnerships with policy makers and researchers from over 20 countries, including the United States, most of Western Europe, Israel and Argentina and from the Asia-Pacific region.

Filed under: Organizations


Metropolitan Area Look-Up

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
This system provides the user with a facility to select a state and county combination to determine if the selected county is part of an Office of Management and Budget (OMB) defined Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA). The system has been updated with OMB area definitions published for FY 2009.

Filed under: Links


MetroTrends Data

Urban Institute
MetroTrends is the Urban Institute's report card and toolkit for researchers, students, journalists, elected officials and the public on the state of metropolitan economies. The site provides data for the top 100 cities in the following topic areas: arts and culture, crime, demographics, economic output, employment, food insecurity, health insurance, housing, nonprofits, unemployment, and wages.

Filed under: Data


Salon.com posts a slideshow of the ten most segregated cities in America, using the recently released Census data. 

April 01, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Mothers Alone : Poverty and the Fatherless Family, 1955-1966 UK

Economic and Social Data Service
The study explores the lives and experiences of mothers living alone: unmarried, separated, divorced or widowed. The study posed two questions: what is poverty and who are the fatherless? The study asked about housing conditions, homelessness, diet and nutrition, family relations, marriage and marital breakdowns, and the levels and adequacy of community and national assistance. The interviewees were asked about detailed indicators of poverty and also the subjective, felt experience of poverty. The study examined problems families faced as a consequence of both low income and lack of fathers, the causes of their circumstances, and the adequacy of assistance provided by community and national sources. 

Filed under: Data


University of Chicago researchers find that moving low-income individuals to lower-poverty neighborhoods leads to significant improvements to their health. 

October 21, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

U.S. Department of Education
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES is located within the U.S. Department of Education and the Institute of Education Sciences.

Filed under: Data


National Institute of Urban Affairs

National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)  (India) is a premier institute for research, training and information dissemination in urban development and management. Established in 1976, as an autonomous body under the Societies Registration Act, the Institute enjoys the support and commitment of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, State Governments, urban and regional development authorities and other agencies concerned with urban issues. 

Filed under: Organizations


National Poverty Center

University of Michigan
The National Poverty Center (NPC) was established in the fall of 2002 as a university-based, nonpartisan research center. We conduct and promote multidisciplinary, policy-relevant research on the causes and consequences of poverty and provide mentoring and training to young scholars.

Located within the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, the NPC benefits from close proximity to an extensive and diverse group of University of Michigan-based scholars from such units as the Institute for Social Research; the Department of Economics; and the Schools of Education, Public Health, and Social Work. In addition, the NPC draws on the work of over forty nationally recognized scholars from around the country, our Senior Research Affiliates.

Major funding for the NPC is provided through a cooperative agreement with the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. University of Michigan funders include the Ford School, the Office of the Vice-President for Research, the Institute for Social Research, and the Rackham School of Graduate Studies.

Filed under: Organizations


Neighbourhood Boundaries, Social Disorganisation and Social Exclusion, 2001-2002 UK

Economic and Social Data Service
The central aim of this research was to investigate the underlying premises of UK neighbourhood crime policies through a comparative study of the responses to crime and disorder within both affluent and deprived neighbourhoods, the extent and nature of informal means of social control utilised by their residents and how collective efficacy is related to social capital and social cohesion. A further aim of the research was to examine the nature of social interaction relating to crime and disorder between the neighbourhoods in order to identify the extent to which such defensive or exclusive strategies may contribute to the social and spatial exclusion of deprived neighbourhoods.

Filed under: Data


In 2010, per capita income rose in nearly every metropolitan statistical area (MSA).  

August 26, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Philadelphia bans the outdoor feeding of the homeless.

March 19, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Photographs give insight into the world's one billion slum dwellers, a number expected to double by 2030.

March 09, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Policy Studies Journal

American Political Science Association; Policy Studies Organization
As the principal outlet for the Public Policy Section of the American Political Science Association and for the Policy Studies Organization (PSO), the Policy Studies Journal (PSJ) is the premier channel for the publication of public policy research. PSJ is best characterized as an outlet for theoretically and empirically grounded research on policy process and policy analysis. More specifically, we aim to publish articles that advance public policy theory, explicitly articulate its methods of data collection and analysis, and provide clear descriptions of how their work advances the literature.

Filed under: Journals


Poverty & Public Policy

Poverty & Public Policy is a new global journal that will address all the complex aspects of poverty, income distribution, and welfare programs around the world. The journal will be eclectic, publishing peer-reviewed empirical studies, peer-reviewed theoretical essays on approaches to poverty and social welfare, book reviews, and data sets from scholars and practitioners, including those in less developed nations.

Filed under: Journals


Questioning whether gentrification is always a bad thing.

March 30, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Racial Residential Segregation

University of Michigan
This website provides indexes of racial residential segregation for all states, for all counties, for all metropolitan areas and for all cities of 100,000 or more using information from the Census of 2000. Indexes of dissimilarity, exposure indexes, and interracial contact measures are available for five single races and for the three most frequently reported combinations of two races. Segregation measures are provided using three different levels of local area geography: census tracts, block groups, and blocks.

Filed under: Data


San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association

Throughout history, civic involvement has been the foundation of a thriving, vibrant city. SPUR's expanded work in the Urban Center will focus on educational programs in good government, public policy, urban planning and design with the ultimate goal of engaging citizens in SPUR's work and in the issues that affect the entire region.

SPUR's activities, include:

• research and advocacy by policy directors
• frequent policy committee and task force meetings
• meetings with civic leaders and allied organizations
• lunchtime and evening forums and panel discussions
• an urban affairs library and resource center
• permanent and rotating exhibitions

Filed under: Organizations


In a new article in Education and Urban Society, Eric Freeman examines how Census data from the 2005 American Community Survey gives new information about income inequality and spatial segregation in US suburbs.

April 25, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Should research on urban poverty take organizations more seriously?

At a recent conference at the University of Chicago, scholars from across the country asked whether it was time to “rethink urban poverty” from a different perspective, one centered primarily on the organizations with which urban residents interact.

March 28, 2011

Filed under: Issues


Social Science Review

The School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago
Founded in 1927, Social Service Review is devoted to the publication of thought-provoking, original research on social welfare policy, organization, and practice. Articles in the Review analyze issues from the points of view of various disciplines, theories, and methodological traditions, view critical problems in context, and carefully consider long-range solutions.

The Review features balanced, scholarly contributions from social work and social welfare scholars, as well as from members of the various allied disciplines engaged in research on human behavior, social systems, history, public policy, and social services. The journal welcomes contributions on a wide range of topics, such as child welfare, poverty, homelessness, community intervention, race and ethnicity, clinical practice, and mental health. The Review also features discerning essays and substantive, critical book reviews.

Social Service Review is edited by Michael R. Sosin and the faculty of The School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago.

Filed under: Journals


Sociology Data Set Server

A collection of ICPSR sociological data.

Filed under: Data


SSIIM:  Social and Spatial Inclusion of International Migrants, Urban Policies and Practice

Lauv University of Venice
By promoting public awareness on the importance of effective urban policies for the social and spatial inclusion of international migrants, the SSIIM UNESCO Chair will help addressing urban poverty reduction, as well as enhancing worldwide urban cultural diversity and preventing urban conflicts.

In the short term the SSIIM UNESCO Chair will contribute:

-  to produce new knowledge and a better understanding on how to improve good urban governance for the social and spatial inclusion of international migrants.

- to exchange information on policies and practices that best respond to the challenges of increasingly multicultural urban societies.

-  to foster the awareness of policy-makers, government officials and the civil society at large on the importance of international migrants social and spatial inclusion in urban areas.

Filed under: Organizations


Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality

Stanford University
The Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality has five objectives: to monitor trends in poverty and inequality, to support scientific analysis of poverty and inequality, to develop science-based policy on poverty and inequality, to disseminate data and research on poverty and inequality, and to train the next generation of scholars and policy analysts.

Filed under: Organizations


The history and design of Chicago's Cabrini-Green housing project and the development that replaced it.

February 21, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


The Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality

The Multi-City Study of Urban Inequality (MCSUI) is the product of an interdisciplinary team of more than forty research scholars at 15 U.S. colleges and universities. Funded principally by the Russell Sage Foundation and The Ford Foundation, the MCSUI is designed to broaden the knowledge and understanding of how three sets of forces--changing labor market dynamics, racial attitudes and stereotypes, and racial residential segregation--act singly and in concert to foster contemporary urban inequality. To address issues in each of these domains, the MCSUI research team engaged in primary data collection, conducting linked household-employer surveys in four metropolitan areas: Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, and Los Angeles.

Filed under: Data


The New York Times displays the rich cultural history of Kolkata, India. 

November 28, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


The rapid growth of Lagos, Nigeria.

July 11, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy