Exploring the requirement for Place-Specific ...

Exploring the requirement for Place-Specific Geodemographic Classifications

Amanda Otley*, Dr Michelle Morris, Dr Andy Newing, Professor Mark Birkin

[email protected]

October 2018

University of Leeds

Amanda Otley, University of Leeds, LIDA Email: [email protected] Twitter: @amandaotley 2/19

What are Geodemographic Classifications?


What are Geodemographic Classifications?


Tobler’s First Law of Geography:

“Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant

things.”

Tobler W., (1970) "A computer movie simulating urban growth in the Detroit region". Economic Geography, 46(Supplement): 234-240.

Foundation of Geodemographic Classifications


Typical applications

Commercial

E.g. Marketing, retail location planning, etc.

Public Sector

E.g. Policy development, resource allocation, etc.


Scale

Classifications are typically generated at a national extent

Methodological Concerns

Masking local heterogeneity

.. particularly in areas which deviate from ‘national average’

Theoretical Concerns

Goodchild’s 2nd Law of Geography

‘No such thing as a national average’

Goodchild, M.F., 2004. The validity and usefulness of laws in geographic information science and geography. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 94(2), pp.300-303.


2011 Output Area ClassificationOpen classification with 60 input variables from the decennial census


2011 Output Area Classification


London Output Area Classification (LOAC)

“A key motivation for creating our classification of the Greater London

area independent of the rest of the UK arises out of the belief that there is something distinctively different about the geography of the UK’s

capital city.”

Singleton, A.D. and Longley, P. 2015. The internal structure of Greater London: a comparison of national and regional geodemographic models. Geo: Geography and Environment. 2(1), pp.69-87.

http://www.opengeodemographics.com/#LOAC-section

2011 Output Area Classification

Leeds Specific Output Area Re-classification


Preliminary analysis: Leeds Specific Classification

Key finding: There is a need for a place-specific classification in Leeds – but this is not the best solution.

Proposition…

… place-specific variable selection


Geodemographic precursors: Urban Ecology

Q. What does the social structure of the Leeds population look like?

Concentric rings?

(Burgess, 1925)

Sectional?

(Hoyt, 1939)

Neither?


Q. Which attributes underpin the structure of the Leeds population?

Q. How does this compare with other urban areas?

Occupation? Ethnicity? Age? A combination?

Park, R.E. et al. 1925. The City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Hoyt, H. 1939. The structure and growth of residential neighbourhoods in American cities.


Geodemographic precursors: Factorial Ecology

Latent Variable Methods:

A statistical technique to identify a few common underlying factors/components from a large number of variables

Q. Can an understanding the unique structures of cities inform geodemographic classification variable selection?

Q. Are variables universally representative of the same population characteristics in different locations?

Factor Analysis


Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Full-time studentsHighest qualifications level 3School children/Full-time students

Demographicvariables

Housingvariables

Socio-Economicvariables

Employmentvariables

Ethnicity/ Country of birth variables

Leeds Factor Breakdown

Full-time studentsHighest qualifications level 3School children/Full-time students

Fact

or

1

Fact

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2

Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Fact

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Demographicvariables

Housingvariables

Socio-Economicvariables

Employmentvariables

Ethnicity/ Country of birth variables

Bradford Factor Breakdown

“Sta

bili

ty a

nd

wea

lth

”

Principal Component Analysis


Leeds: Bradford :

Indicators of “stability and wealth”

Country of birth

Leeds: Bradford :

“Sta

bili

ty a

nd

wea

lth

”



Indicators of “stability and wealth”

Ethnicity variables

Employment/unemployment variables

Student variables

“IT professionals”

Leeds: Bradford :

“Sta

bili

ty a

nd

wea

lth

”




Not all cities are driven by the same variables.

The same variables are not necessarily universal proxies for the same social phenomena in different cities.

Need for place-specific variables supporting place-specific geodemographic classifications.

Next Steps: Work with local government to identify and gather place specific data with which to develop a more informed place-specific classification.

Exploring the requirement for Place-Specific Geodemographic Classifications

Amanda Otley*, Dr Michelle Morris, Dr Andy Newing, Professor Mark Birkin

October 2018

[email protected]

University of Leeds

Exploring the requirement for Place-Specific ...

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