Applied Research Through Partnership: the Experience of the Yorkshire and Humberside Regional Research Observatory

Paper presented at a seminar on ‘Los Observatorios Regionales de Políticas Públicas como Herramientas de Gestión de Información: Una Aproximación al Estudio del Rendimiento Autonómico, at the Centro de Estudios de Gestión, Análisis y Información, Campus de Somosaguas, La Universidad Complutense, Madrid, 23-24 November, 2000 Ten years ago, a Regional Research Observatory (ReRO) was established to provide ‘clients’ in Yorkshire and Humberside with a single point access to a region-wide data and analysis service. The Observatory’s portfolio covered activities relating to applied research and consultancy, intelligence, education and training, publications and networking. The first part of the paper explains the concept of the Observatory as it was initially conceived as a form of partnership across all the universities in the region, outlines the structure of the organization that was created, explains the arrangements for operating the Observatory as a partnership initiative, and exemplifies the outputs and achievements during the first half of the decade. In order to facilitate its regional monitoring activities, ReRO constructed a Regional Intelligence Centre (RIC), a customised geographical information system in which to store key data sets and generate a range of statistical indicators for the region as a whole or its constituent parts. The second part of the paper explains the structure of the RIC and its contents. It argues that the main advantage that derives from the construction of such a centre is the value that is added to raw information through data handling and integration, through skilled interpretation and through the provision of new information, maybe in the form of forecasts of what is likely to happen in the future, as well as analyses of what has happened in the past. The third and final part of the paper explores some of the key issues and difficulties relating to the operation of the Observatory and considers some of the reasons that have accounted for its loss of momentum in the last few years. This has occurred over a period of increased political attention to regional administration and planning in the UK, exemplified by the creation of Scottish and Welsh Assemblies and the emergence of Regional Development Agencies and Regional Assemblies across England. A retrospective evaluation demonstrates a number of lessons that have been learnt and provides a number of useful guidelines to those attempting to establish similar structures elsewhere in the developed world

Inter-regional migration modelling - a review and assessment

Population migration involves the relocation of individuals, households or moving groups between geographical locations. Aggregate spatial patterns of movement reflect complex combinations of motivation that influence migration behaviour and determine destination choice. Consequently there is a huge literature on modelling different types of migration at various spatial scales. This paper, which originates from a study for EUROSTAT to find a generally applicable migration model, endeavours to review the state of the art by exploiting the distinction between explanatory and projection models. Whilst the review inevitably lacks comprehensiveness, it demonstrates the difference between mathematical and statistical approaches, highlights a recent two-stage model developed for use in a policy context in the UK, and contrasts these methods with models developed in the context of multi-state demography and used for migration projection in the European Union.

Dissemination of aerospace science and technology to highway safety and highway transportation programs Final report, 1 Jan. - 1 Apr. 1968

Feasibility of NASA literature application to highway safety and transportation engineerin

Ethnic Group Migration Within Britain During 2000-01: A District Level Analysis

Using data from the 2001 Census Special Migration Statistics, this paper explores how migration volumes, propensities and patterns vary between ethnic groups at the local authority district level in Great Britain. Whilst ethnic minority populations show a marked urban-rural contrast, ethnic minority net migration across the country does not reflect the pattern of counterurbanisation shown by the white group. In those districts with non-white shares of population above the national norm, there is evidence of higher white internal net out-migration. However, when we decompose the net migration balances of London’s boroughs, different spatial processes occurring in inner and outer boroughs are revealed and ethnic minority groups are shown to be decentralising from centres of concentration

Girls' Economic Security in the Washington Region

This issue brief highlights key issues and demographic trends in the Washington region, and dives specifically into issues of poverty and opportunity that affect girls' capacity to attain economic security in adulthood. Our objective is to better understand girls' experiences and circumstances and to work together with the community to identify strategies that reduce barriers, increase opportunities and increase the number of girls who are able to live economically secure lives both today and for generations to come

Using PLASC Data to Identify Patterns of Commuting to School, Residential Migration and Movement Between Schools in Leeds

New patterns of interaction emerge annually between the places where schoolchildren live and go to school. This paper concentrates on understanding the dynamics of the 'journey to learn'. It explains how PLASC data for Leeds, a city in northern England, can be used to measure daily pupil movements and to investigate school territories, but also to identify pupil movements between schools and between places of usual residence. The longitudinal nature of the data provides the opportunity for checking the authenticity of individual record attributes from one eyar to another and for making adjustments to improve consistency. Consideration is given to how these flows might be modelled in order to support the local authority (Education Leeds) make better decisions when planning the provision of primary and secondary schools across the district in future years

Geoinformation, Geotechnology, and Geoplanning in the 1990s

Over the last decade, there have been some significant changes in the geographic information available to support those involved in spatial planning and policy-making in different contexts. Moreover, developments have occurred apace in the technology with which to handle geoinformation. This paper provides an overview of trends during the 1990s in data provision, in the technology required to manipulate and analyse spatial information, and in the domain of planning where applications of computer technology in the processing of geodata are prominent. It draws largely on experience in western Europe, and in the UK and the Netherlands in particular, and suggests that there are a number of pressures for a strengthened role for geotechnology in geoplanning in the years ahead

Internal Migration of Ethnic Groups in England and Wales by Age and District Type

This paper examines how internal migration propensities vary by age and ethnic group using data from level 1 (district) scale in England and Wales extracted from the 2001 Census Special Migration Statistics and from tables specially commissioned from the Office of National Statistics. The paper identifies age-specific variation in migration propensities by ethnic group at national level before examining the spatial patterns of age-specific inter-district migration using the family and class groupings defined in a recent area classification, demonstrating how minority ethnic group propensities and patterns compare with those of white migrants

Commuting to School in Leeds : How useful is the PLASC?

Children's daily travel behaviour is dominated by the journey to school. In some cases, this movement takes only a few minutes and involves no means of transport other than foot; in other instances, the journey can be over substantial distances, be extensive in duration and involve some form of public or private transport. The combination of journeys taking place is likely to have a substantial impact on traffic congestion, particularly since the morning peak coincides with that associated with the journey to work. What datasets exist that allow us to measure and understand this behaviour

Internal Migration and Regional Population Dynamics in Europe: Spain Case Study

Internal migration has been a key component in Spain’s sub-national population dynamics over the last century, particularly during the 1960s and 1970s, when the rural exodus was at its peak. Since then, as fertility levels have declined and the economy has been restructured, internal migration has continued to play an important, albeit different, role in shaping the distribution of the population across the country. This report, which is one of a series of studies of population dynamics and internal migration in different European countries, considers some of the more recent changes in the distribution of the population and in internal migration during each of the two calendar years, 1988 and 1994, at two spatial scales, provinces and municipalities. Whilst both the natural change and residual net migration components of population change are mapped at both geographical scales, the demographic dynamism of the ‘coastal’ provinces is evident when contrasted, in aggregate terms, with changes taking place in the ‘industrial’, ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ provinces. A Webb classification demonstrates the extent to which the number of municipalities with net migration gains increased between 1988 and 1994, and a size classification suggests a shift of population expansion down the urban hierarchy. Registration data for the two annual periods are used to examine the changes in the volume, geographical distribution and demographic structure of internal migration. Whilst it is clear that the volume of migration between municipalities in the same province has increased between 1988 and 1994 more rapidly than the migration taking place between municipalities in different provinces, the efficiency with which the latter redistributes population has declined. Spatial patterns of aggregate inter-provincial net migration, net migration rates, migration efficiencies and major flows are outlined but no evidence is found of a relationship between net migration and unemployment or density at the municipality scale. Age variations in migration propensities and net migration balances give some indications of the variety of determinants that influence directional migration flows at different stages in the life course. The report presents the profiles of national migration rate schedules in 1988 and 1994 and examines the spatial patterns of net migration for five-year age groups. Provinces are classified according to their migration efficiencies in the two annual periods and age-specific efficiencies are examined for selected provinces to demonstrate major changes in more detail. Migration of those of working age accounts for the large majority of inter-provincial movements and migration efficiencies of those in three broad working age groups (young, middle and older) provide a useful summary of the main patterns. Finally, the report makes use of the information available from the registration data on place of birth as well as on place of residence before and after the move. New insights are given on the proportion of inter-provincial migration that involves return to the province of birth, the age variations in return proportions and the major flows of return migrants between provinces