ENC Economic Development Study

Published Jan 16, 2024 by

Aj Jacobs

Filed under:

Dr. A.J. Jacobs

With the help of local planning practitioners, students from the Fall 2023 Local Economic Development Planning Seminar (PLAN 6000, Instructor A.J. Jacobs) conducted detailed analyses of existing economic conditions in eight counties in the Greenville/Eastern North Carolina Region. This included Pitt, Lenoir, and Beaufort Counties and their adjacent counties of Craven, Greene, Edgecomb, Martin, and Wilson. The purpose of these studies was to discern the potential for industrial recruitment in each county and the region, and to provide local officials with some guidance regarding the direction of local recruitment efforts. For example, student research suggested that Pitt County build upon its already strong base by actively recruiting additional Pharmaceutical and Medical Equipment Manufacturing firms to the area. In contrast, it was discovered that the region is not well-equipped in terms of infrastructure and labor force to attract a major electric vehicle or EV battery maker.

Students began the semester by completing an Imagined City brainstorming exercise. For this assignment, students completed conceptual drawings and a ten-minute video of what their ideal/imagined city would look like spatially, including a combined land use classification and infrastructure map. They followed this up with three County Industrial Site Location Project reports. In the first of these, students wrote a report chronicling existing socio-demographic, employment, workforce, and business data on their assigned county and the larger Eastern NC Region. In the second, they identified and collected background data on sites in their county that could accommodate a large industrial employer. This entailed studying existing zoning maps, tax records, infrastructure, and utility capacity information as part of their effort to recommend five potential industrial development tracts/sites to their county’s officials. Finally, each student completed a 10-to-15-minute video presentation (uploaded to YouTube) summarizing their research findings and recommendations.

Here are three examples from the final County economic development project.