Tuesdays at APA: The Great Recession, Municipal Budgets, and Land Development

According to annual surveys by the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the National League of Cities (NLC), cities have been eliminating jobs, decreasing infrastructure investments, and scaling back services for more than a decade. For many municipalities, the Great Recession has exacerbated these trends, endangering these communities ability to invest in future economic growth. Furthermore, the changing nature of municipal revenue structures affects land-use policy and the nature of future development projects. In April 2012 UIC and NLC received a $950,000 grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to conduct a three-year study of municipal responses to the Great Recession. Michael Pagano from UIC shared some highlights of his research to date with a special emphasis on the immediate, and likely lasting, effects of the Great Recession on municipal revenue structures and decision making regarding the type, timing, and location of new development.