New $1 million grant to fund Rice study on Houston-area urban development

Rice University
Office of Public Affairs / News & Media Relations

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Amy Hodges
713-348-6777
amy.hodges@rice.edu

 New $1 million grant to fund Rice study on Houston-area urban development

HOUSTON – (June 19, 2014) – A new $1 million grant from Houston Endowment Inc. will enable researchers from Rice University’s Hobby Center for the Study of Texas to embark on a three-year study of how urban development is affecting neighborhoods and residents in the Greater Houston metropolitan area, with emphasis on Harris County and the city of Houston.

Steve Murdock (left) and Mike Cline (Photo credit: Jeff Fitlow)

The project aims to identify population changes between 2000 and 2014 in the metropolitan-area counties and in neighborhoods within Harris County and Houston.

Steve Murdock, director of the Hobby Center and the Allyn R. and Gladys M. Cline Professor in Sociology, will serve as principal investigator for the study; Mike Cline, a research scientist at the Hobby Center, will serve as project director. The research team will also include three additional staff members.

“Development has been widespread in the major cities and counties in Texas, especially the Houston metropolitan area, which is one of the fastest-growing areas in the country,” Murdock said. “Part and parcel of that development is the fact that the housing base is changing dramatically in many parts of the metropolitan area, the county and the city.”

Murdock said the research team will initiate the study by identifying the many areas in the counties and city that are undergoing significant development and redevelopment.

“In urban development, traditionally people move from the central city out to the suburbs,” Cline said. “Now there has been a lot of discussion of people moving back to the central city. Academic literature indicates that this may be happening in some locations, but we do not know how much of that is true for our area. We also do not know the extent of recent changes in the Houston-metropolitan area, in Harris County and the city of Houston. This is a major goal of the study.”

“Modest housing structures are being replaced by multi-unit and/or high-end single-family structures,” Murdock said. “We wish to determine the characteristics of the people moving to these areas — such as where they are from, why they are moving to a particular neighborhood and their socio-economic characteristics. We also want to gather similar information about those who used to live in these areas, including how they have adjusted to their new areas of residence.

“There are always two sides to development – some are very positive, while others are negative,” Murdock said. “This project will examine the issue from both sides, and our goal is to provide quantitative, definitive data on how metropolitan, Harris County and Houston neighborhoods are changing.”

The study will rely on population and housing data from the censuses of 2000 and 2010 and American Community Survey data from 2005 through 2014, as well as new data obtained through a survey to be administered in 2015. Rice’s Hobby Center has contracted with the University of Houston’s Hobby Center for Public Policy to conduct the survey. The researchers will also conduct in-person meetings with people — everyone from residents to government officials — throughout the metro area. The researchers will prepare several reports on their findings and will give public briefings on the findings from the study.

“We are indebted to Houston Endowment for providing this gift that will allow Professor Murdock and the Hobby Center to advance a new and clearer understanding of the many pressing issues of Houston’s growth in population,” said Lyn Ragsdale, dean of Rice’s School of Social Sciences. Engagement with the city of Houston is one of Rice’s Priorities for the New Century.

Both Murdock and Cline said they are looking forward to providing a “more complete description” of development changes in the Houston metro area, Harris County and the city of Houston, including where these changes are occurring and the implications for people in the areas where change is occurring, for those moving to such areas and for those who have moved because of redevelopment.

Houston Endowment Inc., a philanthropic foundation established by Jesse H. and Mary Gibbs Jones in 1937, improves life for the people of Greater Houston through its grants to nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. The foundation donates approximately $75 million each year to organizations that support and promote arts and culture, education, the environment, health and human services. For more information, visit www.houstonendowment.org.

For more information on Rice’s Hobby Center, visit http://hobbycenter.rice.edu.

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For more information, contact Amy Hodges, senior media relations specialist at Rice, at 713-348-6777 or amy.hodges@rice.edu.

This news release can be found online at https://news2.rice.edu/.

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Related Materials:

Hobby Center for the Study of Texas: https://hobbycenter.rice.edu/

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