Making the Connections: A Study of the Impact of Historic Preservation in Indianapolis
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Client: Indiana Landmarks
Date: 2018
To honor the 50th anniversary of the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission in 2017, Indiana Landmarks hired PlaceEconomics to analyze demographic and economic data to determine the impact of historic district designation in the capital city.
The study compared Indianapolis’s designated areas—13 local historic districts, 5 conservation districts, and 19 historic districts listed in the National Register of Historic Places that are not also locally designated—with the rest of the city. The study team examined the districts from a number of angles: job attraction, property values, foreclosure rates, abandoned housing, and proximity to parks, public transportation, and bike lanes.