Living Cities Census Series
About the Living Cities Databooks
As a part of the Living Cities Census Project, the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program has produced 23 databooks, one for each of the cities in which Living Cities focuses its investments. The databooks provide local leaders with a "one-stop" guide to Census 2000 by assembling key information in an accessible format.
The databooks place each of the 23 cities in a national context and provide comparative rankings on all the key indicators in the census. The databooks are organized around ten sets of indicators: Population, Race and Ethnicity, Immigration, Age, Households and Families, Education, Work, Commuting, Income and Poverty, and Housing. For each set of indicators, the databooks compare each Living City to other cities participating in the initiative as well as the top 100 cities. They also provide comparisons within and across the metropolitan areas in which these cities are located.
Each databook uses a uniform set of indicators and comparisons, within a uniform format. However, the charts, tables, and maps that make up each databook are tailored for that city. In addition, each databook provides an executive summary that describes how that particular city has performed on the indicators described above.
The potential audience for the Living Cities databooks is diverse, and includes elected officials, community leaders, civic and philanthropic organizations, research groups, and the media, among others. We anticipate that local leaders will use the databooks in a number of ways:
- Understanding context—Information on the economic and demographic environments in which cities operate is often scattershot, focusing on one indicator, one neighborhood, or one point in time. The databooks provide a comprehensive portrait of the major population-related trends playing out across the nation's large cities in the 1990s.
- Setting priorities—By comparing cities' status and progress on a wide range of social and economic indicators, the databooks can assist local leaders in identifying priority areas for grantmaking, policy reform, service delivery, and more in-depth research.
- Establishing baselines—The databooks shed light on the status of cities in 2000, and how they progressed over the prior 10 years. The rankings and trends displayed in the databooks thus establish important baselines for assessing city performance in the current decade.
- Learning from peers—The rankings of the 23 Living Cities and 100 largest cities that form the backbone of the databooks situate each particular city among its peer cities on key indicators. Information on city peers can help local officials learn from the successes and failures of similar places, and stimulate collaboration across cities to use those lessons for policy and planning.
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