The Metrotrends Demographic Review and Outlook is an annual report compiled by Metroplan that "chronicles demographic trends for the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA)."
This year, the review detailed the rise of "infilling" in some of Arkansas' underutilized urban spaces, with a focus on the Little Rock community of Pettaway.
Jonathan Lupton, Senior Planner for Publications at Metroplan developed the report and said that more and more development is going into what he called "vintage neighborhoods"
"One of these is Pettaway, and that is what had been a sort of disinvested neighborhood east of Main Street and south of I-630. And it's been really coming back on steroids lately," said Lupton.
He said one of the aspects that benefitted development in Pettaway was that it had leftover areas that were zoned as high-density commercial zones close to residential zones. This created an opportunity for a walkable infrastructure that combined the two.
Infilling can be a way to repurpose largely unused urban areas, and while some may hear "infilling" and think of the term "gentrification," which can carry a negative connotation, Lupton says focusing on a community need can create a distinction.
"When there is a really serious emphasis on affordable housing, and on making it such that people can afford to live there, then I think that— to my view it's not gentrification. Either that or that gentrification is not a dirty word. That you're creating more opportunities than you are taking away."
Lupton says local governments can help promote infill and revitalization by revisiting zoning ordinances and providing a degree of flexibility, especially when it comes to high-density zoning.
Shifting to population, the demographic review points to migration as the largest growth metric for the Little Rock MSA, in a time when birthrates have fallen and death rates have risen.
Lupton says most of the migration is in-state, and largely young adults moving from rural areas to more urban centers.
"Pulaski County, for example, tends to get young adults in the upper 20s and early 30s. These are people who are starting their careers and getting their first serious jobs, I think, here. In counties like Faulkner, where Conway is, you see more net in-migration in the college ages."
While still being outpaced the major cities of Northwest Arkansas and when it comes to population growth, Arkansas' capital city is ahead of the competition.
"The Little Rock area is growing faster than Jackson, Mississippi, it's growing faster than Memphis, and it's growing faster than Baton Rouge," said Lupton. "It's growing almost twice as fast as the U.S. metropolitan average."
Lupton says this population and economic growth may lead to more revitalization for Central Arkansas, as growth feeds reinvestment, growing the city "from the inside-out, and not just from the outside-in."
