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 Changes
in the U.S. census are providing timelier, useful
information, but require a full understanding of the
data being collected and a thorough analysis before
utilizing the data in decision-making.
The American Community Survey (ACS) is a nationwide
“long form-only” survey that was established in some
U.S. communities beginning in 2005 and will be extended
to all communities nationwide by 2010. It will replace
the long form in the ten-year census and provide
communities with an annual moving picture of
demographic, socio-economic and housing characteristics.
With the ACS, elected officials, community leaders and
businesses will have access to more current data to help
in decision-making on social and economic issues.
But the ACS will not provide an official population
count between 10-year censuses, and its monthly sampling
of housing unit addresses within communities requires
more careful analysis and interpretation of the data
collected.
David A. Swanson, a nationally known demographer,
interim Director of the Blakely Center and UCR Professor
of Sociology, will discuss the ACS and its ramifications
to decision-making at the May 15 Randall Lewis Seminar
Series.
Dr. Swanson has more than 30 years of experience as an
applied demographer, including recent research funded by
the National Science Foundation in which he directed an
on-the-ground census and sample survey to assess the
impact of Hurricane Katrina on residents of the
Mississippi Gulf Coast. He has been at the University of
Mississippi since 2003.
His applied demography experience includes service as
the Dean of the Helsinki School of Economics, Professor
of Urban Studies at Portland State, and State
Demographer in the Alaska Department of Labor. He also
has conducted demographic research in Saudi Arabia.
The seminar
will begin at 5:30 p.m. at University
Village, UV207. See
map.
The
seminars are free of charge.
If you plan
to attend:
Please RSVP to
Shayna Conaway
shaynac@ucr.edu (951) 827-7830
to ensure
adequate space and refreshments.
Study Will Focus on Link Between Urban Design, Sustainability
Center Awarded $154,000
Haynes Foundation Grant
The Edward J. Blakely Center for Sustainable Suburban Development has been awarded a $154,452 grant for a two-year study on the link between urban design and sustainability.
The study, called “The Hope of New Urbanism: Energy Conservation and Sustainability through Urban Design,” will be funded through a grant from the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation.
The study will investigate whether New Urbanism residential design increases energy efficiency by reducing the number of miles driven and commutes. New Urbanism, an urban design movement first appearing in the early 1980s, encourages a mix of housing and jobs within “walkable” communities, often close to mass transit and everyday amenities.
“Specifically, we are interested in whether residential design can lower energy consumption and help control pollution as New Urbanism has claimed,” said Dr. Juliann Allison, Associate Professor of Political Science at UCR and the principal investigator for the project. Allison also is Associate Director of the Blakely Center.
Co-Principal Investigators for the study will be Dr. Matthew Barth, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Director of the Center for Environmental Research and Technology (CE-CERT); and Dr. Martin Johnson, Associate Professor of Political Science and Co-Director of the UCR Survey Research Center.
The project will analyze the commuting behaviors of residents in two communities – Playa Vista in West Los Angeles, and the Dos Lagos community in Corona. A phase one mail and phone survey of selected residents in both communities will be asked questions regarding factors that influenced their move, the extent to which they use live/work amenities built into their homes, and whether they take advantage of shopping, dining and entertainment available in their community. Residents also will be asked about their daily vehicle use and energy/gasoline consumption.
The study also will include complex traffic modeling by CE-CERT of newer residents in the two communities to determine if commute habits change from move-in through several fixed points in time over a six-month period. Respondents will log daily trips and point of origin and destination.
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