What if Cities Used Data to Drive Inclusive Neighborhood Change?

Solomon Greene and Kathryn L.S. Pettit at the Urban Institute: “Policy responses to neighborhood changes that displace or otherwise harm vulnerable populations often come too late and at too great a price. This essay proposes integrating multiple data sources to develop neighborhood-level early warning and response systems that can help city leaders and community advocates get ahead of these changes. Using intelligence generated through these data systems, local leaders could adopt interventions that secure inclusion in dynamic neighborhoods.

This essay is part of a five-part series that explores how city leaders can promote local economies that are inclusive of all their residents. The framing brief, “Open Cities: From Economic Exclusion to Urban Inclusion,” defines economic exclusion and discusses city-level trends across high-income countries (Greene et al. 2016). The four “What if?” essays suggest bold and innovative solutions, and they are intended to spark debate on how cities might harness new technologies, rising momentum, and new approaches to governance in order to overcome economic exclusion….(More)”