Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Neighborhoods, cities and regions facing long-term declines in population and economic activity may consider alternative responses, such as revitalization, regeneration, shrinkage and abandonment. In this presentation I show that planning decisions intended to improve quality of life, informed by qualitative and quantitative data and analytic methods, implemented through accessible and affordable technologies, and based on notions of social impact and social justice, can enable residents to play a leading role in the positive transformation of shrinking cities and

distressed communities.

Making good decisions is essential to enabling local government to deliver services that improve the lives of constituents. But what is a good decision, and what is necessary to make good decisions? In this presentation, given to fellows of the Lead for America program, I introduce the notion of decision and data analytics, specific to the needs of resource-constrained local governments, provide three examples of analytics & decision opportunities ranging from mostly-qualitative to mostly-quantitative data and analysis, and end with three case studies that I had the Lead for America fellows perform.

In these days of ‘analytics’, ‘big data’ and ‘smart cities’, many of us are aware of the importance of data and quantitative analytic methods for program design, implementation and evaluation. Less commonly-understood are specific tools and methods for community-based interventions in which the problem to be solved is unclear, and the ways in which data of many different kinds can be used to develop interventions that represent best-possible uses of organization and community resources. Moreover, it is also less commonly-understood how to put communities, and community members, near the center of problem-solving and decision-making.

Examples of challenging problems include: How …

This course provides students with an introduction to quantitative analytic methods appropriate to propose, support and evaluate localized and regional initiatives in planning and community development. Technical skills associated with these methods will be taught with a focus on the needs of community-based organizations which typically have limited time, human, financial and technical resources to perform detailed analyses in support of their programs and initiatives. This is a core, required course in the Urban Planning and Community Development master’s program. No previous university-level exposure to probability and statistics are necessary. Students will learn basic skills in analysis and interpretation of …