ABSTRACT
Economic development policies are place-based—either pure place-based or place-based people, in Ladd's typology—policies that are intended to alter private investment and employment decisions in specific regions, states, metropolitan areas, cities or neighborhoods. The objectives of these policies include increasing the employment and earnings prospects of residents in the target area, diversifying and increasing the tax base, and providing local commercial services and amenities. Urban planners, sociologists and human geographers have more often been advocates for giving attention to urban places as well as people. The importance of a sense of place in urban neighborhoods suggests that people-oriented policies are incomplete because they ignore the value of Bolton's community capital and Jacob's neighborhood vitality. The majority of work on the effects of neighborhood economic growth has focused on its effect on land values and on overall jobs, without attention to the nature of the jobs and who obtains them.
