Indianapolis community metrics : empowering communities and planners with equal access to user friendly data analysis

Abstract

In an environment when funding for community development is declining and research is proving the effectiveness of targeted redevelopment strategies, it is critical for planners and community development organizations to have data relevant to community revitalization. This paper explains the development of and tests the effectiveness of a user friendly web-application to view neighborhood indicators at the census tract level. Using the existing literature related to neighborhood indicators, particularly work by Galster, et. al (2005), the author has developed an application that can be useful to everyone from planners to neighborhood organizations to neighborhood residents. To test the effectiveness of the application, it is used to find neighborhoods of disinvestment near neighborhoods of investment. Those neighborhoods are then explored using the web-app to determine if they are good candidates for community development investment. The application is successful in identifying three key neighborhoods as candidates for investment. The most exciting aspect of this tool is its universal quality. The data and methods used can be easily replicated for any city of county in the country.