❮ Projects page Center City District/Central Philadelphia Development Corporation

Spatial Analysis Project:

Technology and high-growth startup companies are an increasing focus of Philadelphia’s economic development strategy. Through programs like Startup PHL, FastFWD, and 10,000 Small Businesses, Philadelphia’s city government is investing in the attraction of these firms to the city. However, in a high tax environment, more must be done in the long term to ensure the retention of these firms. While access to talent and preferential treatment in the University City KIZ and KOZ areas is a starting point, we believe access to amenities and other like-minded companies and the quality of urban experiences will play a large role in shaping who works in 21st century Philadelphia. This project proposes to map known technology and startup firms and their proximity to one another, urban amenities, and other business resources in order to gain a comprehensive geospatial picture of the startup and technology landscape in Philadelphia. These resources may include but are not limited to: transit, including pedestrian infrastructure; an educated workforce; retail amenities, particularly restaurants; and proximity and access to Comcast.

Data available:

There are many publicly available datasets that can be leveraged to complete this project, and CCD/CPDC also has a variety of proprietary datasets that we develop that can be used for this project. Where datasets are not publicly available, CCD/CPDC will leverage relationships with appropriate contacts to obtain data. Useful datasets may include:

• CCD/CPDC Retail Database
• Bike Network, accessible via Open Data Philly
• Philadelphia Bike Racks, accessible via Open Data Philly
• SEPTA transit lines
• Parks and public spaces, accessible via Open Data Philly
• Geospatial workforce demographic data, accessible via the Census Bureau’s LEHD Program
• KOZ parcels, accessible via www.philakoz.org
• KIZ boundaries, accessible via www.uckiz.com
• Commercial buildings class designations
• Startup/tech company locations, accessible via CCD/Technically Philly Startup Survey, Crunchbase, Startup Genome, Benjamin Franklin Technology Partners, WeWorkInPhilly, and other firm databases

Maps and Reports that will be created:

• An attractive map of all datasets mentioned above
• Analysis of firms’ average proximity to transit amenities, bike network, and bike parking
• Analysis of firms’ average proximity to parks and public space amenities
• Analysis of firms’ access to retail amenities, to include but not limited to restaurants, coffee shops, and personal services
• ArcGIS MXDs, including all data layers, for future research

How the maps and reports will be used:

These deliverables will be used to inform CCD/CPDC’s long-term business attraction and retention strategy; will be used in forthcoming reports on Philadelphia’s economy and real estate market; and will be shared with relevant public and private stakeholders.