FeaturedDataStories

Wichita, Kansas LandValuePerAcre

One way to examine the utilization and value of the land use in your community is to create a Total Value Per Acre (TVPA) analysis for your town. The idea is that various areas of your city, town or county contribute to the property tax roll at different rates. See this new article on TVPA analysis for Wichita, Kansas.

Sometimes this contribution is obvious; an undeveloped one-acre parcel of land contributes less tax than a one-acre parcel of developed land. Sometimes the contributions are counterintuitive. A 2-acre property with a two million dollar home might contribute less to the property tax roll than if there were 10 0.2 acre houses on the same property.

We like this story for a number of reasons. First, it builds on Strong Towns and their championing of TVPA analysis. Secondly, we laid out a process that explains how anyone can perform similar analysis for their community.

Lastly, TVPA analysis doesn't necessarily get you to an outcome of "this area is good, this area is bad", rather it shows you how land has been built up and used, and what the impact is from an improved value perspective. We want this analysis to inform future decisions that support the next generation of housing development.

Analyzing Albany NY's Crime

Our community member, Adam, analyzed Albany, NY's crime and where it happens as a two-part exploration into the types, trends and locations of crime.

We like this data story for a number of reasons. Crime mapping highlights both where crime happens and, just as importantly, where crime is low - the mapping teased out some areas of high and low crime that weren't intuitive. Adam also built the crime mapping analysis never having done any geospatial work prior. We wrote a short how-to on creating heat maps that supported this analysis.

Lastly, a Criminology professor from our local university read the article and brought us into their classroom to talk to students about our work. While this was an unexpected outcome, it's just what we want to have happen - a data story informs and is used by others.