Twin Cities Metro Studies

The demographic arc of Brooklyn Center contains elements of tragedy. Several decades ago, the city represented a hub of opportunity for working-class and middle-class residents of Minneapolis’s poorest quarters, who were seeking new places to live away from the segregation and discrimination that defined many central-city neighborhoods. But as more and more low-income residents and Minnesotans of color were drawn to the city, it too developed the systemic troubles that accompany segregation.

If there were a single central contribution that Minnesota has made to American history, it would be its leadership in civil rights, particularly advancing racial integration in schools and housing.  No other area of its activity has had such a profound, positive impact on the nation’s law, culture and politics.  Without Minnesota’s multiracial and bipartisan leadership, it hard to imagine the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights

As a part of the New Deal in the 1930s, the Federal Housing Administration classified urban residential areas in terms of their lending risk for the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC). The program itself was designed to make home ownership more accessible for first time home buyers, and facilitate the refinancing of existing home mortgages.

This presentation documents change in Twin Cities schools and neighborhoods.

This research traces a group of inmates back to the neighborhoods where they lived when arrested and to the schools they attended to evaluate the relationship between segregation by race and income in neighborhoods and schools and incarceration.

In 'Region' Myron Orfield and Thomas Luce examine the successes and shortcomings of the Metropolitan Council’s regional planning and policy in the Twin Cities. They analyze the impact of failures in planning and the promise of growing successfully, and ultimately put forth recommendations for a better future—one where we live up to our ideals.  Chapters from Region: Planning the Future of the Twin Cities (U. Minn. Press, 2010) are provided in pdf form.

This report documents strong racial disparities in mortgage lending in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The Twin Cities has some of the greatest racial lending disparities in the nation, and communities of color have borne the brunt of both the subprime lending and foreclosure crisis. The report shows how much race and segregation influence mortgage lending patters in the Twin Cities.

This combination policy brief and research paper shows a close relationship between segregation in schools and neighborhoods and argues that policy reform for schools and housing must be closely related and regionally coordinated.

This analysis of race, income and small consumer loans covers the Twin Cities, Portland, Ore., and Seattle.

This analysis of municipalities in the Twin Cities metropolitan area shows variations in access to opportunity. The index combines 24 local characteristics measuring fiscal health, jobs/transportation, quality of life and education.

This article reports on a study that used a unique data set to investigate job growth, job deconcentration, and commuting patterns in the Twin Cities during the 1990s, including where the job growth is greatest, how suburban jobs have clustered or become more scattered, and commuting patterns.

This IRP report documents the connection between access to the Internet and access to life opportunities such as living-wage jobs. It analyzes the ways Minnesota community technology centers, public schools, public libraries, municipalities, and Indian reservations improved underserved populations? access to technology.

This report examines projected growth and its threat to remaining sensitive natural areas in the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources' 17-county central region.

As part of the "Twin Cities Stories: Using Data for the Common Good" project, IRP worked with organizations located in and serving the West Bank community.

As part of the "Twin Cities Stories: Using Data for the Common Good" project, the IRP created materials for the Latino Economic Development Center.

This IRP study explores growing employment centers in the Twin Cities in relation to affordable housing and transit.

The Minnesota Legislature undertook the Racial Profiling Study Pursuant to Minnesota Statute § 626.951. The Council on Crime and Justice and IRP jointly analyzed data and prepared a statewide aggregate report for 65 individual reports from participating Minnesota law enforcement departments.