Building communities: GIS and participatory decision making
Abstract
Building Communities: GIS and Participatory Decision Making 67 Building Communities: GIS and Participatory Decision Making Laxmi Ramasubramanian ARLY in 1995, the American Family Mutual Insurance Company in Milwaukee settled a discrimination suit by agree- ing to invest $14.5 million in central Milwaukee. The plaintiff in the case, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), had argued that the company was discriminating against the predominantly African-American community residing in Milwaukee's North Side. Although the case never went to trial, the plaintiff managed to gather a significant volume of statistics and analyses to support its claims. With this settlement, the community will receive financial compensation through programs which will subsidize interest rates for home purchases and home improvements. The settlement will provide financing assistance, emergency home repair assistance, and home ownership counseling in addition to providing financial relief for NAACP v. American Family... individual victims of the insurance company's discrimination. Part of the compelling evidence that made the case against the insurance company was the display of geographic maps of the area such as the map that showed the distribution of American Family's home owners insurance policies. (See Figure 1.) While the company had argued that it had