Case Studies

Community Planning and Development Case Studies
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Minnesota: North Metro I-35W Corridor Coalition
I-35W is the economic engine for the part of the northeast Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. However, common development issues throughout this corridor needed to be addressed, and regional and local transportation networks were facing increases in congestion. Read more

Thomas Jefferson Area Eastern Planning Initiative
The Thomas Jefferson Planning district near Charlottesville, Virginia, established the Eastern Planning Initiative (EPI) and set the following goals that it wanted to address in an integrated manner: Read more

GIS and Section 8 Housing Choice
The Section 8 tenant-based housing assistance program provides subsidies that allow low-income families to live in higher-quality private-market rental housing. This approach aims to more closely match housing preference to provision, and to increase opportunity beyond what is typically available near public housing, which is frequently located in high-poverty neighborhoods. Current research shows that some Section 8 families live in poorer and racially segregated neighborhoods (Turner et al., 1999). Read more

Colonias: U.S.- Mexico Community-based GIS for Economic Development
HUD defines the colonias as rural communities and neighborhoods located within 150 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border that lack adequate infrastructure and frequently also lack other basic services.1 Colonias have emerged in rural areas but they are predominantly residential areas for workers and families working in nearby urban centers or in agricultural occupations. Read more

E-MAPS
In September 2000, HUD launched a partnered effort with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), linking data on HUD-funded activity in every neighborhood across the country with EPA environmental information. The purpose of Environmental-MAPS or E-MAPS is to provide people with detailed, site-specific information about what the government is doing to protect the environment and to promote community and economic development. The goal is to ensure easy access to data so that communities can engage in informed discussions and make informed decisions about growth and development. Read more

Milwaukee’s Community Information System
The Community Information System in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, facilitates access to data and builds the capacity for community and non-profit organizations’ data use. The center provides access to data and training in the use of data; and works closely with its partners to build a sustainable neighborhood data clearinghouse, offer data and GIS services on demand to neighborhood organizations, build the capacity of local organizations to organize and interpret data, and use technology to create tools to lower the costs of accessing and analyzing data. Read more

Baltimore, Maryland: Introducing Remote Sensing to Urban Planning
The city of Baltimore initially looked to remote sensing to obtain urban data for a state map of forested areas in Maryland and to update the city’s planimetric maps.1 City planners had long depended on 19th- and early-20th-century maps for information on building and street locations in the city. In the 1980s and 1990s, as GIS software became easier to use, there were efforts in Baltimore to develop an integrated GIS, accessible to all agencies in Baltimore City, that would support planimetric map production and allow for GIS analysis. Read more