The Urban Markets Initiative aims to improve the quality of the information available on urban communities to unleash the full power of those markets to connect them to the economic mainstream. more about the Urban Markets Initiative
RETAIL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT
Saluting Urban Market Pathfinders While many developers and investors intuitively believe in the potential for profitable returns in American cities, there is a lack of visibility into what works and what does not work in urban markets. This week the Urban Markets Initiative at the Brookings Institution honors Urban Market Pathfinders who have demonstrated excellence capturing market potential by investing in communities.
Many individuals outside the credit mainstream are unable to access credit, or credit at competitive rates, because of the lack of traditional information, such as mortgage and credit card payments, available on their credit files. However, UMI's recent report "Give Credit Where Credit is Due" provides evidence that the inclusion of alternative data on credit-like payments, such as utility payments, in credit reporting can help bridge this information gap. The first step toward filling this gap requires utility companies to systematically report these data to the major credit bureaus. This report offers some initial insights into the possibility, experience, and hurdles of data reporting for utility companies.
Although downtown revitalization and innovative mixed-income redevelopment are reinvigorating deteriorated inner-city neighborhoods in cities across the country, too little attention is paid to declining middle-income neighborhoods such as Hickory Hill in Memphis, Tennessee. This brief illustrates how one community based organization used insights from the information cycle to drive a housing intervention strategy for a neighborhood in decline.
At the federal, state, regional, and local level, data exchanges and data intermediaries help their communities efficiently address housing, public safety, and public management issues. This Urban Markets Collaboratory event gathered experts to share insights and investigate how we all can work together to work more effectively and efficiently.
Downtown Detroit In Focus is the product of innovative, progressive analysis of the market size and potential of Downtown Detroit. Progressive analytics for downtown development provide a more accurate picture of downtown and its neighborhoods. Working closely with the lead economic development and downtown business organizations, local decisionmakers will use this collaborative research product to better serve current residents and drive future development in downtown Detroit.
Street vendors in New York City, a home-based worker in Los Angles, the day laborer in New Orleans—these businesses are part of the "informal economy" but are an integral part of daily urban life. Accurate measurement of a community's economic activity has the power to attract new investment by businesses and new residents. But in many of our urban communities, residents remain underserved, in part because these type of businesses remain largely unmeasured by economists and banks.
High quality, up-to-date information is critical to efficiently allocate our nation's scarce public and private resources. UMI hosted a series of public briefings so that Congressional staff, nongovernmental organizations, and journalists may better appreciate the extraordinary importance of the ACS and the decennial census for a well functioning democracy and economy.
