Neighborhood Change Since 1970: Suburbanization, Gentrification, and Suburban Redevelopment
SAVI Talks - June 2018While suburbanization and White flight led the White population to drop by 120,000 in Indianapolis’ core and early suburbs, gentrification has recently led to major cultural changes in some of these same neighborhoods.
Across the Indianapolis region, neighborhoods have experienced rapid cultural changes and shifting housing demand. Learn more in the Community Trends Report, Neighborhod Change Since 1970.
In June, we facilitated a community conversation about neighborhood-level demographic changes across the region from 1970 to today, exploring the trends of suburbanization, gentrification, and suburban redevelopment.
See How Your Neighborhood Has Changed
We’ve built an interactive tool to explore all the data we used in our research. Discover how the demographics of your neighborhood has changed over the past five decades.
Community Trends Report
New construction in Highland Park. Income for the average family in Highland Park/Cottage Home has gone up 68 percent from 2010-2016, while falling one percent across the region.
Matt Nowlin / The Polis Center
In the past fifty years, the 1970s and 2010s have been the fastest changing decades in terms of economic and demographic indicators. In the 1970s, suburbanization contributed to population loss and economic decline in urban areas.
Since 2010, many core Indianapolis neighborhoods have reversed these trends, growing wealthier, whiter, and more college-educated. Still, many have not experienced positive economic change. Half of Indianapolis residents live in neighborboohds with significant income declines over the past five decades. Read more…
Articles and Story Maps
Explore interactive content built on our neighborhood change research.
Michigan Street a Century Ago: A Neighborhood Node
Two miles east of downtown, Michigan Street is largely vacant. But in the early 20th century was a bustling corridor for the Willard Park and St. Clair neighborhoods. Discover the history and demographics of these blocks.
Candidate’s Housing Proposal Calls Attention to How We Measure Vacancy Rates
It's hard to know exactly how many vacant units are in Indianapolis, but it's clear that many neighborhoods struggle with hypervacancy.
Increasing Mortgage Values
Mortgage values are increasing across the county, indicating an increase in housing prices. We explore the fastest changing areas, as well as places with very little little mortgage activity.
Indy’s Poverty Increased over 50 Years, What about Peers?
The Indy region's poverty rate increased over the past 50 years, mostly between 2000 and 2010. We looked at peer cities from Cincinnati to Austin to see if they experienced similar trends.
In Christian Park, a Postwar Neighborhood Experiences 21st Century Changes
Christian Park was subdivided in the 1920s, but mostly built after World War II. Once an all-white neighborhood with high home ownership, the area has become part of a Latino community on the southeast side, and home ownership has fallen.
Mapping Bands of Urban and Suburban Development
Using the age of housing stock in each neighborhood, we have created "development bands," which group areas by the time period in which they were primarily built.
Children Transfer Often at Charter Schools, Low-Income Schools
When a student changes schools often, it can impact education outcomes. Charter schools tend to have the highest transfer rates, and a school's share of students from low-income families has a strong relationship to transfer rates.
Indy Neighborhoods with Fastest Changing Income Diversity
Most neighborhoods became more mixed-income between 2011 and 2016. Farley, near Ben Davis, had the biggest increase in income diversity, while the historically black suburb Grandview had the biggest decrease.
Indy’s Least Mixed-Income Neighborhoods
Explore neighborhoods where residents are highly concentrated into a few income groups. We dive into examples of concentrations of low-income residents, high-income residents, and middle-income residents.
Estimated 200,000 Indy Residents Live in Food Deserts
Using recent, local data to improve on food access measures, we find that an estimated 200,000 Indianapolis residents have low food access and live in low income areas.
Authors
Kelly Davila,
Senior Research Analyst,
The Polis Center
Matt Nowlin,
Research Analyst,
The Polis Center
Unai Miquel Andres,
GIS and Data Analyst,
The Polis Center
Panelists
Imhotep Adisa,
Executive Director, Kephrw Institute
Jeff Bennett,
Deputy Mayor for Community Development, Office of Mayor Joe Hogsett – City of Indianapolis
Meredith Brickell,
Associate Professor of Art at DePauw University and Project Leader for the House of Life Project
Chris Pryor,
Vice President of Government & Community Relations, Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors
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