Data Segmentation: Communities’ Friend or Foe?

KnowledgePlex and the Urban Markets Initiative presented an online discussion about the history, structure and possible applications of data segmentation systems for community and economic development. A variety of private-sector systems, such as MOSAIC, PRIZM, and PYSTE, are widely used by the commercial sector. Do these have value for the public? Can the public sector find or adapt systems appropriate to its mission?

Guest experts were moderator Alyssa Stewart Lee, senior research analyst at the Urban Markets Initiative, and Robert Haslach, primary consultant to the Urban RPM project of the Urban Markets Initiative. They focused on how private-sector goals may differ from the public-sector’s; what private-sector tools are available and currently used for community and economic development; and how community analysts can leverage segmentation to target limited resources more efficiently.