Strong Towns Member Leads a DIY Value Per Acre Analysis

At Strong Towns, we obsess over the financial resilience of cities. And understandably so: dismiss the math behind the costs and benefits of development in your city and, over time, you may discover that your city has no money.

Therefore, with the help of our friends at Urban3, we often complement our critiques with a value per acre analysis (like here and here). These analyses help city staff and elected officials determine which developments—or, more to the point, which development pattern—will generate the most tax revenue from the city’s finite supply of land.

(Spoiler: the traditional development pattern always wins.)

Now, picture this: what if you had the skills and insights to create a value-per-acre analysis for development in your community? Well, if you’re like me—a not-so-mathematically-minded Strong Towns advocate who shivers at the thought of rows-on-rows of figures in a spreadsheet—the prospect seems unlikely.

But you don’t need a ton of training to do this analysis—just a little help to demystify the process. That’s why, in our second member-led webinar in the Strong Towns Facebook group, Strong Towns member Andrew Kelsey shared how the Strong Towns advocate with the heart for their city can create a DIY value per acre analysis. 

You can see a screenshot from the webinar below.

In this webinar, Andrew takes you step-by-step through the process and teaches you everything you need to know to create a value per acre analysis for your own city, including

• How to find parcel data for your city. 

• How to import the data into ArcGIS Pro.

• How to format the analysis so you can share it with others. 

(And the best part: this Strong Towns member, with the help of Andrew and other members, already plans to use a value per acre analysis at an upcoming city council debate.)

Missed the webinar but want to learn how to create a value per acre analysis for your city? Visit the Strong Towns Community site to watch the webinar, plus download Andrew’s complementary written guide.