Commuter linkages among counties in the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota

The continued decentralization of metropolitan areas has replaced the well-defined daily urban systems of the 1960's with complex, overlapping commuting fields. This report analyzes county-tocounty commuting flows in Minnesota and counties in adjacent states to evaluate changes in the state's urban systems between 1960 and 1990. Findings confirm that inter-county commuting has increased dramatically, from 7% in 1960 to nearly 19% in 1990. The rate of growth is diminishing, but the total number of commuters is considerable. In 1990, over 70,000 workers commuted to the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (TCMA) from Greater Minnesota. Results of a multivariate statistical procedure, factor analysis, confirm that exurban counties between the Twin Cities and nearby regional centers have been drawn into a complex web of interconnected, overlapping urban systems. These findings support the hypothesis that the daily work journey is creating an interdependent network of urban systems in the densely settled portions of the state. The increasing gap between the seven-county TCMA and the practical extent of the Twin Cities underscores the question whether the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Council should expand to include counties connected by the daily flow of workers to the Twin Cities.Minnesota Department of Transportatio

Gentrification, segregation, and discrimination in the American urban system

Recent discussions of the 'geography of gentrification' highlight the need for comparative analysis of the nature and consequences of inner-city transformation. In this paper, the authors map the effects of housing-market and policy changes in the 1990s, focusing on 23 large cities in the USA. Using evidence from field surveys and a mortgage-lending database, they measure the class selectivity of gentrification and its relation to processes of racial and ethnic discrimination. They find a strong resurgence of capital investment in the urban core, along with magnified class segregation. The boom of the 1990s and policies targeted towards 'new markets' narrowed certain types of racial and ethnic disparities in urban credit markets, but there is evidence of intensified discrimination and exclusion in gentrified neighborhoods.

Minnesota's Housing: Shaping Community in the 1990s. Fourth in the series, What the 1990 Census Says About Minnesota.

It is in our homes and our neighborhoods that society reproduces itself, and if things begin to go awry at home or in the neighborhood, we correctly sense that trouble is brewing for society at large. Shifts in the housing landscape often parallel changes in the direction of our society. This report, based on the 1990 Census and earlier census data, presents a profile of selected features of the Minnesota housing landscape - a landscape we have created over the years, and that is now shaping our lives. The housing supply, vacant housing, changes in the demand for housing, low income housing, poverty populations, and minority housing are all examined along with commentary on the role of housing in American life and housing policy in Minnesota