In 2017, the Urban Manufacturing Alliance embarked on our State of Urban Manufacturing research process in six inaugural cities (Baltimore, Cincinnati, Detroit, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Portland, Ore.) to comprehensively understand the making and manufacturing ecosystem in each place, as well as the service provider landscape that supports it.

About the State of Urban Manufacturing

And while cities implement a variety of techniques to support manufacturing businesses — from land use tools that encourage industrial real estate development, to workforce development programs deployed in high schools and community colleges, to local branding initiatives that cultivate maker communities — these place-based economic development strategies are often assessed and implemented in isolation from one another within, and between, cities.

The primary goal of the State of Urban Manufacturing is to help inform economic development services at the national and local levels by providing new insights into the impacts, opportunities and challenges of urban manufacturing. Through this work, we sought to understand: (1) how cities are holistically sustaining and growing urban manufacturing centers; (2) how the maker movement relates to overall trends in the manufacturing sector; and (3) the types of employment opportunities that urban manufacturing provides for local neighborhoods and underserved communities.