Community Partnerships to Examine Local Housing Markets: A Neighborhood Profile

Abstract

In the spring of 2012, the Macalester College Urban GIS class embarked on a community-based research project using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to visualize the lingering effects of the housing crisis on individual neighborhoods and communities. Our methodology was informed by a report by the Folwell Center for Urban Initiatives (2011). The Folwell report created a Housing Market Index that presents a block-by-block view of housing market strength in North Minneapolis (Folwell 2011). The Macalester College Urban GIS class applied the Housing Market Index (HMI) methodology to five additional neighborhoods in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The full case study authors are Sidney Ainkorn, Camille Cauchois, Caroline Devany, Charlotte Fagan, Lora Hlavsa, Matthew Hyde, Sarah Krumholz, Skyler Larrimore, Niko Martell, Peter Mathison, Emily Sames, Kyle Strand, Robert Strickling, David Tomporowski, and Scott Vargo (accessible as of publication of Volume 1 of this journal at http://www.macalester.edu/academics/geography/courses/coursepages/Macalester_HMI_Report_2012_Intro.pdf). The following article is a case
study of Powderhorn Park, one Minneapolis neighborhood profiled in our 2012 study.