Urban Planning for Change: Data and Projections in City of Flint Master Plans (1920, 1960 & 2013)

Abstract

The City of Flint, Michigan, USA has experienced extreme population and economic variability in the past one hundred and fty years. The City of Flint developed three comprehensive or master plans in order to assess available data, make projections and propose recommendations. The ways in which each plan proved to contain accuracies and failures is instructive for the practices of historical statistical methods and urban planning, particularly as it relates to spatial data. The three plans will be considered in three main sections: planning for population growth (1920), planning for regional rationalization (1960), and planning for a exible future (2013). Population projections, residential density patterns, and economic and employment data will be reviewed and compared against the planning recommendations and realities. The relationship between statistics and spatial analysis is examined. Discussion is included on ways data and statistical analysis can be utilized for public decision-making and assist with governing.