The Economic Development–Vibrant Center Connection: Tracking High-Growth Firms in the DC Region

Guided by empirical observation of recent downtown redevelopment, we conduct spatial analysis between urban vibrancy and economic growth at the census tract level. To measure the level of urban vibrancy of live work and play environments, we rely on the Environmental Protection Agency's Smart Location Database with measures of density, land use diversity, urban design, distance to transit, and destination accessibility. We further measure economic growth by the concentration of high-growth firms and employ descriptive statistics and spatial regressions to analyze the correlations. We first find the presence of vibrant centers in both urban and suburban areas. More important, we observe that vibrant centers have captured more of these high-growth firms. These results suggest the need for more refined theoretical and empirical analysis of urban vibrancy, economic development, and place attractiveness at the intrametropolitan scale.

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