How can social compact's neighborhood drilldown data spur more retail development in Miami's difficult to develop neighborhoods?

Abstract

The inner-city neighborhoods of America continue to struggle with the economic blight they have faced ever since American urban growth began to abandon the urban city core fifty years ago. One of the most salient characteristics of the American inner-city is how it is constantly overlooked by private investment. This has many negative effects on the economic livelihood of these neighborhoods, including leaving these areas of the city void of much of the retail its residents need for their own purchases and for local economic activity. Recent theories have focused on the idea that one of the reasons there is a lack of investment is because of an information gap that exists in the inner-city, through which inner-city economic and demographic conditions are not accurately represented in the market data used for retail development market analysis. This thesis researches how improved retail market analysis data can help spur more inner-city retail development, with a specific focus on how Social Compact!s 2009 Neighborhood Market DrillDown report for the City of Miami can support increased inner-city retail development in the city. The research looked at the history of inner-cities, the retail development process, and the use of DrillDown reports in Cleveland, Ohio and Houston, Texas, and then studied Miami!s economic development context and its developing strategy for the dissemination of the DrillDown report. It is concluded that the Neighborhood Market DrillDown reports have the potential to be an important enabler of increased inner-city retail development.

(cont.) However, this success is completely contingent on the data!s passage through the Retail Market Information Flow framework that this thesis stipulates that actionable market data flows through in a city!s development process. The essence of the flow framework is that it is a series of networking and collaboration steps that determine how effectively a city!s public, private, and non-profit actors work together to support the use and acceptance of improved data and apply it effectively to retail development deals.