A case study in Portland examines food stamp customers' perception of farmers' markets.

December 06, 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 new perspective on food deserts.

February 03, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


A private ambulance company in India charges premiums to middle-class users in order to subsidize care for the poor.

November 04, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


A report analyzes the local laws that increasingly criminalize homelessness.

December 29, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


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

April 12, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


How did residents of some of Chicago's largest public housing projects cope with moving to new neighborhoods after the projects they were living in closed?

March 04, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


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 Human Development Project

Social Science Research Council
The American Human Development Project provides easy-to-use yet methodologically sound tools for understanding the distribution of well-being and opportunity in America and stimulating fact-based dialogue about issues we all care about: health, education, and living standards.

AHDP produces national and state reports, as well as thematic briefs and innovative online tools such as the Mapping of the Measure of America, which also includes the City Explorer and Charts

Filed under: Links


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


An art project brightens up the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. 

October 19, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


The New York Times examines an initiative that helps families in several US cities get out of poverty by fostering the creation of a network of peers and rewarding families for reporting their successess.

July 28, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Analyzing the suburbanization of poverty in the San Francisco region.

April 04, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Annual Adjustment Factors (for Residential Rents)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The Department of Housing and Urban Development establishes the rent adjustment factors — called Annual Adjustment Factors (AAFs) — on the basis of Consumer Price Index (CPI) data relating to changes in residential rent and utility costs. 

Filed under: Data


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


Best Practices Database in Improving the Living Environment

UN-HABITAT
This searchable database contains over 3,800 proven solutions from more than 140 countries to the common social, economic and environmental problems of an urbanizing world. It demonstrates the practical ways in which public, private and civil society sectors are working together to improve governance, eradicate poverty, provide access to shelter, land and basic services, protect the environment and support economic development.

Filed under: Links


BJS Corrections Data

U.S. Department of Justice
This site holds a collection of BJS data related to corrections. The collection includes information on jail and prison inmates and sexual offenders, as well as probation services and the state of jails and prisons. 

Filed under: Data


BJS Courts Data

U.S. Department of Justice
BJS provides data from statistical projects and surveys conducted at various court levels. The site also includes data on juveniles in criminal court.

Filed under: Data


BJS Crime Type Data

U.S. Department of Justice
BJS provies data on the types of crimes that occur in the the U.S. and where. The site includes a city-level survey of crime, victimization, and citizen attitudes.

Filed under: Data


BJS Law Enforcement Data

U.S. Department of Justice
BJS provides a variety of data related to law enforcement.

Filed under: Data


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 Institution study evaluates the suburbanization of HUD Housing Choice Voucher recipients.

November 07, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Building Resilient Regions

The University of California Berkeley
The MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Building Resilient Regions (BRR) examines the power of metropolitan regions to respond to local and national challenges.  BRR brings together an interdisciplinary  group of scholars and practitioners to investigate why metro regions matter now, what constitutes resilience in the face of challenges, and what factors help to build and sustain strong metro regions.  The Network’s analyses focus on several broad-based national challenges where the regional response is especially significant.  These include: how growing regions address conditions such as increased traffic congestion and housing affordability; how regions that have lost manufacturing jobs build on existing strengths and attract new growth; how regions with large influxes of immigrants have responded to increased diversity and population pressures; and how the continued concentration and emerging deconcentration of poverty across metropolitan areas has affected access to opportunity and patterns of service provision.   While these challenges appear as defining characteristics of regions, their origins and paths of development are conditioned in large part by global technological and economic shifts and concomitant alterations in the international division of labor.

Filed under: Organizations


Bureau of Justice Statistics

U.S. Department of Justice
The Bureau of Justice Statistics provides national data on such justice-related issues as crimes, victims, and corrections.

Filed under: Data


CalWORKs Datasets

Rand
The CalWORKs Datasets includes data related to the statewide evaluation of the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) Program.

Filed under: Data


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 Poverty Research

University of Kentucky
The Center’s research mission is a multidisciplinary approach to the causes, consequences, and correlates of poverty and inequality in the United States, with a special emphasis on the residents of the South. A focused research agenda on poverty among the residents of the South is critical to our Nation’s poverty research effort because low-income populations in the South face a different set of challenges than comparable groups in other parts of the United States, which is manifested in a host of economic and social disparities including higher rates of poverty, inequality, and welfare-program utilization.

Filed under: Organizations


Center for Urban and Community Studies

University of Toronto
The Center for Urban and Community Studies (CUCS), established in 1964, promotes and disseminates multidisciplinary research and policy analysis on urban issues.

The Centre's activities contribute to scholarship on questions relating to the social, economic and physical well-being of people who live and work in urban areas large and small, in Canada and around the world.

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 (Leicester)

University of Leicester
Established in 1985, the Centre for Urban History (CUH) is a specialist research center of international academic excellence which attracts MA and PhD students from around the world. The Centre maintains active links with academics and research institutions across the globe.

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 Policy Research

Rutgers University
The Center for Urban Policy Research conducts basic and applied research on a broad spectrum of public policy issues, including affordable housing, land use policy, environmental impact analysis, state planning, public finance, land development practice, historic preservation, infrastructure assessment, development impact analysis, the costs of sprawl, transportation information systems, environmental impacts, and community economic development. 

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


Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development

DePaul University
The Chaddick Institute, located at DePaul University in Chicago, advances the principles of effective land use, transportation and community planning. Founded in 1993, the institute offers planners, attorneys, developers, and entrepreneurs a forum to share expertise on difficult land-use issues through workshops, conferences and policy studies.

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


The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development annouces the first grant winners for the new Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.

March 21, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


In Chongqing, China, a megacity with almost three times the area of Belgium. city planners are trying to design a "city without slums."

April 04, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


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: The International Journal of Urban Policy and Planning

Cities offers a comprehensive range of articles on all aspects of urban policy. It provides an international and interdisciplinary platform for the exchange of ideas and information between urban planners and policy makers from national and local government, non-government organizations, academia and consultancy.

The primary aims of the journal are to analyze and assess past and present urban development and management as a reflection of effective, ineffective and non-existent planning policies; and the promotion of the implementation of appropriate urban policies in both the developed and the developing world.

Filed under: Journals


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 Mayors

Cities are shaping today's social, cultural, economic and technological agendas. They compete, learn from each other and act together.  The City Mayors Foundation was established in 2003 to promote, encourage, and facilitate good open and strong local government.

Filed under: Links


City of Chicago Data Portal

The City of Chicago’s Data Portal is dedicated to promoting access to government data and encouraging the development of creative tools to engage and serve Chicago's diverse community. Here you’ll find essential data presented in easy-to-use formats to help Chicagoans keep track of how their government is performing and build innovative applications to benefit residents and visitors alike.

Filed under: Data


City, Culture, and Society

The 21st century has been dubbed the century of cities - sustainable cities, compact cities, post-modern cities, mega-cities, and more. CCS focuses on urban governance in the 21st century, under the banner of cultural creativity and social inclusion. Its primary goal is to promote pioneering research on cities and to foster the sort of urban administration that has the vision and authority to reinvent cities adapted to the challenges of the 21st century. The journal aims to stimulate a new interdisciplinary paradigm that embraces multiple perspectives and applies this paradigm to the urban imperative that defines the 21st century.

Topics of special interest to CCS include urban economics, cultural creation, social inclusion, social sustainability, cultural technology, urban governance, sustainable cities, creative cities. As a peer-reviewed international journal, CCS welcomes contributions from disciplines including but not limited to economics, business, accounting, planning, political science, architecture, geography, sociology, historiography, cultural studies, population studies and public administration.

Filed under: Journals


Components of Inventory Change (CINCH)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
The Components of Inventory Change (CINCH) report measures changes in the characteristics of the housing stock of the United States. Using data collected from the national American Housing Survey (AHS), conducted every two years, the characteristics of individual housing units are compared across time. This comparison allows researchers to see not only changes in the characteristics of housing units, but also in the characteristics of occupants. Information is available on the characteristics of units added and removed from the housing stock.

Filed under: Data


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


County and City Data Books

University of Virginia
This resource provides access to the 1944 through 2000 County and City Data Books providing users with the opportunity to create custom printouts and/or customized data subsets (subsets only available for 1988-2000). 

Filed under: Data


Data Appeal turns geographical data into creative 3D visualizations of cities

November 11, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Data Driven Detroit

Data Driven Detroit (D3) provides accessible, high-quality information and analysis to drive informed decision-making that strengthens communities in Southeast Michigan.

D3 believes that direct and practical use of data by grassroots leaders and public officials promotes thoughtful community building and effective policymaking. As a “one-stop-shop” for data about the city of Detroit and the metro area, D3 provides unprecedented opportunity for collaboration and capacity building in Southeast Michigan.

Filed under: Data


Data SF (San Francisco)

City of San Francisco
DataSF is a central clearinghouse for datasets published by the City & County of San Francisco. The site allows you to find datasets in several ways: general search, tags/keywords, categories, and rating. The goal is to improve access to city data through open machine-readable formats. While the number and quality of datasets is increasing, we recognize there is much more that we can do. You can help by rating and commenting on existing datasets or by telling us what datasets we should make available to the public. 

Filed under: Data


Data.Seattle.Gov

City of Seattle
The purpose of Data.Seattle.Gov is to increase public access to high value, machine-readable datasets generated by various departments of Seattle City Government.

Filed under: Data


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


Discovering the Bronx

Bronx Data Center
The Bronx Data Center's graphic presentation of borough-related data through computer-generated maps.

Filed under: Data


Displaced New Orleans Residents Survey (DNORS)

Rand
The new Displaced New Orleans Residents Survey (DNORS) is designed to examine the current location, well-being, and plans of people who lived in the City of New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina struck on 29 August 2005. The DNORS study builds on an earlier pilot study, the Displaced New Orleans Residents Pilot Survey (DNORPS), which was fielded in the fall of 2006. Documents describing DNORPS are available, as well as initial publications, and data.

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


Questioning whether the relocation of public housing residents affect crime rates in their new neighborhoods.

April 06, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Driven From New Orleans explores the privatization of New Orleans' public housing, at the expense of the city's poor.

September 27, 2012

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


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


Vancouver announces a comprehensive ten-year plan to end homelessness and build affordable housing.

August 04, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Envirofacts

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Envirofacts is a comprehensive collection of environmental data.

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


Fair Market Rents

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Fair Market Rent data from 2000 through 2011.

Filed under: Data


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


Mercy Corps, an international nonprofit, has launched an innovative solution to provide high-quality food to the poor in Jakarta, where apartment kitchens are rare: street vendors that sell cheap, healthy food

June 02, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy

New York University
The Furman Center is a joint research center of the New York University School of Law and the New York University Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. The Furman Center conducts interdisciplinary empirical and legal research about housing, land use, real estate, and urban affairs. Since its founding in 1995, the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy has become a leading academic research center devoted to the public policy aspects of land use, real estate development and housing.

Filed under: Organizations


Global City Indicators

The Global City Indicators Program provides an established set of city indicators with a globally standardized methodology that allows for global comparability of city performance and knowledge sharing. This website serves all cities that become members to measure and report on a core set of indicators through this web-based relational database.

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


Has poverty become suburbanized?

For many years, urban scholars considered poverty to be a problem of the inner city; suburbs were traditionally where middle-class Americans moved to in order to escape the disintegrating city center. Using the results of the 2000 and 2010 Censuses, social scientists are beginning to look more closely at suburban poverty, exploring its causes, dynamics, and long-term consequences.

August 01, 2011

Filed under: Issues


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


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


Honolulu Land Information System

City of Honolulu
The City and County of Honolulu has developed one of the most comprehensive GIS data base for any municipality of its size. The Honolulu Land Information System (HoLIS) is an enterprise-wide system serving over 15 City Departments with land use, permit, tax, infrastructure, and environmental data. Geographically referenced information links existing City records to precise locations on the island of Oahu for spatial query and analysis.

Filed under: Data


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 does public transportation affect employment opportunities?

A recent report published by the Brookings Institution examines the efficiency of the sprawling network of public transportation in the United States, focusing on the relationship between public transit and employment opportunities. Researchers used a complex data set consisting of routes, stops, and schedules of 371 transit providers in large American cities to determine job-site accessibility by public transportation, providing a sobering view of the effectiveness of public transit.

July 01, 2011

Filed under: Issues


How has climate change affected cities?

The first snow fell early this autumn in the northeastern United States. Yet the somewhat premature winter weather may be deceiving. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, human behavior has contributed to global climate change, and we are likely to face steadily rising temperatures in the future. These record-high temperatures are significantly affecting the health of at-risk populations such as the elderly.

January 01, 2012

Filed under: Issues


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 a Competitive Inner City

The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City is a nonprofit research and strategy organization and the leading authority on U.S. inner city economies and the businesses that thrive there. Founded in 1994 by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, ICIC strengthens inner city economies by providing businesses, governments and investors with the most comprehensive and actionable information in the field about urban market opportunities.

Filed under: Organizations


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


Institute of Urban Studies

The University of Winnipeg
The Institute of Urban Studies is an independent research arm of the University of Winnipeg. Since 1969 IUS has been both an academic and an applied research center, committed to examining urban development issues in a broad, non-partisan manner. The Institute examines inner city, environmental, Aboriginal and community development issues. In addition to its ongoing involvement in research, IUS brings in visiting scholars, hosts workshops, seminars and conferences, and acts in partnership with other organizations in the community to effect positive change.

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


A new study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University indicates that renters are increasingly unable to find affordable housing in the United States. 

May 05, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy


Living in a poor neighborhood is harmful to residents' health.

December 02, 2011

Filed under: New & Noteworthy