The Local Socioeconomic Impact of Destination Redevelopments in Detroit and Las Vegas (1990-2010): A Novel Geographically-Weighted Shift-Share Analysis Approach

The construction of new or renovation of old theaters; sport stadiums; museums; casinos; parks; and other destination sites (i.e., henceforth referred to as “destination redevelopments”) are among the most popular, alluring and expensive types of urban revitalization projects around the world. In addition to aiming to attract new visitors, local officials and other community stakeholders often invest in these projects in an attempt to both retain existing residents and recruit new residents into the neighborhoods in which these redevelopments are located. Previous research has documented some of the socioeconomic effect of specific subcategories of destination redevelopments, most particularly with respect to its impact on real estate value. However, despite the fact that the entire category of these projects are promoted to have a similar socioeconomic impact, many of the subcategories are relevant to only specific cities. Scant research has explored the degree to which this entire category of redevelopments alters the local socioeconomic composition of nearby neighborhoods. Moreover, previous studies have tended to draw conclusions about local statistical changes without simultaneously controlling for municipal trends, trends in commonly defining characteristics (for analyses of cohorts), and the effects of spatial dependency. To bridge these gaps in the literature, the present research proposes a novel geographically-weighted shift-share analysis approach that uses GIS to analyze the socioeconomic impacts at the local level. It then applies this technique to assess the impact of the collective category of destination redevelopments in the seemingly disparate cites of Detroit and Las Vegas between 1990 and 2010