Economic Development

A multidimensional research initiative spanning America's fragile infrastructure systems debuts today at the Urban Institute with transportation planning expert Sandra Rosenbloom as its director.

Funding and investing in infrastructure are not only about finding adequate resources to meet the demands of citizenry, but rather requires understanding of how infrastructure fits into the broader functions of government. This brief examines the key role of pricing infrastructure projects and how the total cost of a project (including lifetime maintenance costs) should be included in funding decisions. Current federal and state policies often encourage new building rather than maintenance and care of existing infrastructure. The role of public-private partnerships in infrastructure projects is also sometimes more about political rather than economic considerations. The author presents options to better coordinate infrastructure financing and payments across levels of government.

This document describes the Business Patterns series source data set and the summary indicators from this set that are included in the UI data file. It also discusses technical issues associated with preparing the Business Patterns data.

NeighborhoodInfo DC, an Urban Institute project, has amassed a data warehouse measuring the health and vitality of Washington, DC neighborhoods. This fact sheet is the first publication in our effort to extend our analysis to the council districts in Prince George's County, Maryland. The following information summarizes selected population and socioeconomic changes in Prince George's County between 2000 and 2010 using the latest tract-level 2010 U.S. Census population data and the 2005–2009 American Community Survey. We provide countywide averages, as well as the individual changes in the county’s nine districts.

While much has been written about the decline of central cities, very little research has examined the problem in their suburbs. This report focuses on the suburbs of older industrial cities and how best to address the challenges they face. Using census data, literature review, and four in-depth case studies, the authors provide a detailed portrait of the underlying forces shaping distressed suburbs. It highlights a range of best practices used in case study cities for fostering growth and reducing poverty. These lessons can be instructive both to local leaders working to turn their cities around and to the federal policy makers supporting them.