Several decades ago, following the dramatic loss of about one-fifth of Northeast Ohio’s manufacturing jobs, Cleveland turned to the academic community for help in analyzing the region’s economic problems. Case Western Reserve University’s Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI) was created to help economic recovery. REI seeks to improve the economic welfare of the nation’s regions through a unique program of policy research, education, and decision support. REI’s studies have contributed to the region’s economic development by providing better information to policy makers.
This capability gave Cleveland an information advantage, changing its thinking about itself and helping to launch some of the City’s most important programs during the 1980s.
REI is now developing models for “A Consensus-Based Framework for Economic Analysis of Alternative Land Use Patterns in Northeast Ohio.”
TerrAqua helped develop a cost-of-sprawl methodology. We identified and quantified the environmental costs of urban sprawl on air, land and water, and studied successful land-use models in other regions for their applicability in Northeast Ohio. We also (1) attended stakeholder meetings to determine regional needs and abilities, (2) developed a framework for economic analysis of land-use development alternatives, (3) helped develop recommendations and alternative analytical methods, and (4) helped present technical information and findings clearly to all regional stakeholders.
Client: Center for Regional Economic Issues, Case Western Reserve University