The Dictionary of Human Geography

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partisan political projects – as illustrated by

the use of 2001 census data in the UK to

portray the country’s changing ethnic geog-

raphy in ways that, while not wrong, empha-

size findings that sustain a particular case

(Dorling, 2005; Johnston and Poulsen, 2006).

The conduct of censuses is a major admin-

istrative task involving the distribution to and

collection of forms from every address in the

country, followed by the collation of large vol-

umes of data. That administration is in almost

every case geographical in nature: the country

is divided into small areas (variously termed

‘collectors’ districts’, ‘enumeration districts’,

etc.) in each of which data collection is over-

seen by a trained administrator (a role partly

eliminated in some cases by use of postal and/

or on-linequestionnaires). Those small areas

may also be deployed as reporting units, with

data made available to users at very fine spatial

scales. (The average collection district at

the 2001 New Zealand census contained 106

persons, for example.) Elsewhere, the smallest

reporting units are specially designed to pro-

vide information aboutneighbourhoodsin

urban and separate settlements in rural areas,

as withcensus tractsin the USA. For the

2001 UK census, geographers were involved

in designing a three-level hierarchy ofoutput

areaswhich are relatively homogeneous on two

criteria – dwelling type and tenure – as well as

meeting size and shape constraints and fitting

within local authority boundaries: their aver-

age populations were 297, 1,513 and 7,234

persons, respectively (Rees, Martin and

Williamson, 2002).

Although an increasing number of census

authorities release data at such small spatial

scales, thereby facilitating detailed geograph-

ical analyses (cf.factorial ecology;segrega-

tion;social area analysis) – some of value to

policy-makers, as in the identification of areas

ofsocial exclusion within cities towards

which programme money may be directed – a

major purpose of a census is to provide infor-

mation about and for sub-national governmen-

tal and administrative units. These then form

the context of much geographical analysis

although geographers have been employed to

define other spatial architectures for data dis-

semination that are commensurate with the

contemporary spatial structure of economy

and society, which may not be the case with

administrative areas: examples are the use of

commuting data to define metropolitan

areasin several countries.

Although the nature of the data collected

and the spatial units for which they are

released are important constraints tospatial

analysis, nevertheless censuses provide a

wealth of information that has been deployed

by geographers and others to portray many

aspects ofsociety– not least through the

production of atlases (e.g. Dorling and

Thomas, 2004) notably, though not only, in

population,socialandurban geography.

In addition, census authorities are increasingly

providing a wider range of material: public-use

micro-samples of entirely anonymized individ-

ual records are released in some countries, for

example, which may be linked across censuses

to facilitatelongitudinal data analyses.In

some countries, too, the original manuscript

census returns are made available (including

on theinternet), perhaps 100 years after they

were collected, allowing detailed analyses

in historical geography not previously

feasible. rj

Suggested reading

Alonso and Starr (1987); Eckler (1972); Open-

shaw (1995); Rees, Martin and Williamson

(2002).

census tract A small areal unit, containing a

few thousand residents, used to collect and

report census data. The first tracts were

defined by the US Bureau of the Census in

1920 to approximate natural areas orneigh-

bourhoods, providing useful data for anal-

ysing urban social geography (cf.social area

analysis). Many censuses now use a similar

spatial architecture – with varying termi-

nology; some report data for areas with only

a few hundred residents. Most tracts and com-

parable areas are designed for logistical con-

venience, although those for the 2001 England

and Wales census were defined by geographers

to produce areas with different housing

characteristics (Martin, 2002). rj

Suggested reading

US Bureau of the Census,Census Bureau Geog-

raphy: http://www.census.gov/geo/www/GARM/

central business district (CBD) The nucleus

of an urban area around its most accessible

point, containing an internally differentiated

concentration of retail and office establish-

ments. In cities where most workers and shop-

pers travel by public transport, the CBD has

the highest density land uses, most valuable

land and is the focus for most intra-urban jour-

neys. With greater reliance on private transport,

decentralizationand deconcentration trends

are eroding the CBD’s role: most are now

Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_C Final Proof page 75 31.3.2009 9:45pm

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT (CBD)