Reimagining Cities-Disrupting the Urban Doom Loop

Land Area We source data on land are from the U.S. Census Tiger / Line shapefile database. Taxes We compiled tax data for 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023 based on a detailed analysis of city budgets. We focused on city general operating budgets and identified their annual property tax revenues. For cities with an income tax—New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC—we included that to the revenue total. We ascribed property tax revenues down to the WalkUP level based on the WalkUP share of city real estate valuation as a share of the city total. Placer.ai Mobility Data We collected data on visitors, employees, residents and the combined group of employees and residents using Placer.ai’s platform. We analyzed historical visitation performance over time to each WalkUP and imputed the implied totals for employee residents, non-employee residents and resident non-employees in a manner that is consistent with the Downtowns Rebound report methodology. Monthly visitation data was aggregated, covering the period from 2017 to 2024. In addition to studying visitation patterns at the WalkUP level, data on visits to unique points-of-interest (POIs) was collected for various sports/ entertainment facilities. Place Management Organizations A careful inventory of place management organizations in each WalkUP in the 15 sample cities was conducted. This inventory is based on 2024 data, supported by prior research by the International Downtown Association. Those WalkUPs with place management organizations were characterized by WalkUP type (Downtown, Downtown Adjacent, Urban Commercial or Urban University), using ArcGIS analysis tools. After the inventory was completed, each organization’s most recent annual reports/plans/strategies were reviewed to compile their average annual budgets.

Crime All crime data was collected from Esri’s crime index for 2021, 2022 and 2023. Esri partners with Applied Geographic Solutions to provide standardized crime data. Since it does not have more than a three-year history at any given time, there were limitations with going back further than 2021. These indices were listed into separate categories, including personal crime, rape, assault, robbery, property crime, burglary, murder, larceny, motor vehicle theft and total crime. For the purposes of this report, analysis was focused mainly on violent crime, which was calculated by taking a simple average of the personal crime, rape, assault, murder and robbery indices. Total crime was also analyzed. These crime indices were then aggregated to the WalkUP level through the use of ArcGIS analysis tools. Homelessness Rates of homelessness were determined through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report, the most recent publication on the state of homelessness across the country. HUD’s point-in-time counts account for the number of people sleeping outside on any given night in February. Data is collected by volunteers who count the number of unhoused individuals in an area’s Continuum of Care (CoC) area which is roughly the distance that’s walkable for volunteers to cover, usually somewhere outside of city boundaries but within regional boundaries. Though these counts are known to be unreliable and likely undercount the number of people experiencing homelessness, it is the best and most consistent report currently available. HUD’s 2022 data was pulled into ArcGIS and aggregated to the WalkUP, city and metro levels based on data collected in respective CoCs.

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