Fall 2015 - 59740 - PA680PA - Policy Research Project

City of Austin Challenges

Background:

In many ways the City of Austin is at a crossroads.  Years of exponential economic and population growth have brought prosperity to many, and greatly expanded Austin’s business, technology and entertainment communities.  However, not everyone has shared in the increased opportunities, and Austin’s rapid growth has created challenges.

Project Purpose and Goal:

The client for this PRP is the Mayor of the City of Austin.  Students will work directly with the Mayor’s Office, City Council Member Offices, City staff, and community stakeholders.  In conjunction with the Mayor’s Office, we will identify of set of City of Austin challenges such as: mobility, affordable housing, public engagement, and equity and social justice.  Students will work in teams and provide academic and field research including:  analyzing practices in other cities, conducting literature reviews, attending City of Austin and community meetings, and conducting interviews and focus groups. The goal of this PRP is to provide research based policies and best practice recommendations to Austin policy makers to meet current, pressing challenges. 

Deliverables:

Participating students will produce the following products: (1) research plans (2) community presentations at the end of each semester (3) white papers at the end of each semester and (4) a comprehensive report including all of the white papers at the end of the spring semester.

Reference Material:

Mayor Steve Adler’s State of the City Address: http://www.statesman.com/documents/2015/apr/13/read-mayor-steve-adlers-…

2015 Zandan “Voices of the Austin Community” poll: http://zandanpoll.com/

Imagine Austin Plan: http://austintexas.gov/department/imagineaustin