Targeting the suburban urbanites: Marketing central city housing

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1997

Publication Title

Housing Policy Debate

Publisher

Taylor and Francis

Volume

8

Issue

2

Abstract

This article explores target marketing as a means to identify which middle-income suburbanites may relocate to central cities. The most targetable populations reside near central cities and lead urban lifestyles. We term such people “suburban urbanites.” Geodemography, a method combining population and location, is used to classify suburban urbanites using data from Claritas Inc., a target marketer. Claritas divides the nation's neighborhoods into lifestyle clusters by linking population density to demographic and consumptive patterns.

A case study of metropolitan Washington, DC, illustrates how target marketing works. We find that more than half the region's middle-class, Claritas-defined urbanites live outside the District of Columbia. Thus, a large market of potential city dwellers lives in Washington's suburbs. Target marketing enhances the statistical approaches traditionally used in policy making and may help cities understand and develop their comparative advantages.

Keywords

City and town life; Demographics; Gentrification; Housing; Marketing; Suburbs; Sustainable urban development; Target marketing; Urban renewal; Washington (D.C.)

Disciplines

Other Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration | Urban Studies | Urban Studies and Planning

Language

English

Permissions

Use Find in Your Library, contact the author, or use interlibrary loan to garner a copy of the article. Publisher copyright policy allows author to archive post-print (author’s final manuscript). When post-print is available or publisher policy changes, the article will be deposited

UNLV article access

Search your library

Share

COinS