Agyeman-Budu, Elizabeth, Becky Gitonga, Clint McManus, Derek Moretz, Marcelina Valdes, and Xue Zhang. (2014). "Sustainable Economic Development: Investments in People, Place and Business." The Creative Responses to Fiscal Stress Project, Dept. of City and Regional Planning, Cornell University.
In the midst of acute fiscal stress, municipalities turn to a wide range of economic development policies to stimulate job growth and bolster their tax base. No single policy offers a panacea for communities. Economic development practitioners in New York State (NYS) must balance the unique needs of their communities in the context of state policy. This report offers a guiding framework and recommendations for a sustainable economic development strategy. We recognize that economic development practice works from the neighborhood to the national scale with initiatives that include basic infrastructure provision and public service delivery. Cataloguing hundreds of strategies is outside the scope of this project. Instead, we have chosen four transferable, high-impact policies – anchor institutions, land banks, business associations and social entrepreneurship – that offer beneficial lessons for municipalities and fit within our framework. We analyze the impact of these policies as seen in a variety of case studies, and then offer recommendations for municipalities and the state.
The presentation of this report presented at the State Austerity Policy and Creative Local Response (2014) conference is available. Additionally, an executive summary is also available.
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