PLAN-120: Introduction to Census Data, ACS, and Growth
PLAN-120: Introduction to Census Data, ACS, and Growth
Course Access
6 months
Instructor
Christopher Williamson, PhD, AICP
Registration
$99.00
AICP CM Credits
This course has been approved to provide 4 CM credits.
Course materials are accessible for 6 months from the day of registration. Enroll anytime!
The U.S. population just passed 300 million and is steadily growing. Understanding types of growth and projections are essential is planners are to meet the challenges. A powerful tool for planners is the wealth of data provided by the Census Bureau in Census 2000 and the soon-to-be fully implemented American Community Survey. These two sources of information can be invaluable to planners in any venue. But properly understanding and applying the data to the real planning problems presented by growth requires scrutiny and care.
Planetizen's Introduction to Census Data, ACS, and Growth course provides professionals with the background and knowledge they need to understand and accurately use data from the decennial census and the new annual American Community Survey. This self-paced course also offers a look into how census data and growth are affected by each other, and examines ways planners can use the data to map out where communities are and where they are going. Course instructor Christopher Williamson, PhD, AICP, clearly explains the strengths and limitations of census and American Community Survey products, presents a typology of 12 types of growth, and ways to project and estimate growth.
Video training presentations are also included in this course, offering informative lectures on course-related material. A preview of one of these presentations is available for viewing.
- Course Instructor
- Course Outline
- Course Overview
- Video Presentations
- AICP Certification Maintenance
- Returning Student Discount
- Purchasing Information
Course Instructor
Christopher Williamson, PhD, AICP is currently a Senior Planner for the City of Oxnard, California, with responsibility for the 2030 General Plan Update and 2014 Housing Element. He previously was VP of Research for Solimar Research Group, working with author and consultant Bill Fulton on land use policy research that focused on voter-controlled growth management and demographic trends (clients included California Dept. of Transportation, Brookings Institution, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Smart Growth America, U.S. EPA, CA Local Government Commission, The Reason Institute, The Nature Conservancy, Los Angeles City and County, and the Southern California Association of Governments). Chris has written for Planning and Planetizen.com on why the planning profession needs to better respect the slow or no-growth sentiments of some voters and not consider them "in need of education." His career also includes working for the U.S. Census Bureau and the City of Long Beach. Chris holds a PhD in Planning and Policy Analysis from the University of Southern California, a Masters in Planning from the University of Virginia, and a BS in Geography from Penn State. He is a faculty member at USC, Lecturer at CSU Channel Islands, and a Fulbright Scholar.
Course Outline
Topic 1: Census Basics- Lesson 1: Census History
- Lesson 2: Major Results From Census 2000
- Lesson 3: The Modern Census
- Lesson 4: Important Census Concepts
- Lesson 5: Processing the Census
- Lesson 6: Error, Liability, and Documentation
- Topic 1 Quiz
- Lesson 1: Statistical Geography
- Lesson 2: Political Geography
- Lesson 3: TIGER
- Lesson 4: Census Questions
- Lesson 5: Sample Questions
- Lesson 6: Housing Questions
- Topic 2 Quiz
- Lesson 1: Introduction to the American Community Survey
- Lesson 2: How ACS Works
- Lesson 3: ACS Tabulations
- Lesson 4: Problems with ACS
- Lesson 4: Working with ACS Data
- Lesson 4: Census 2010
- Topic 3 Quiz
- Lesson 1: Lesson 1: Census Bureau Products
- Lesson 2: www.census.gov
- Lesson 3: American FactFinder (AFF)
- Lesson 4: Simple AFF Queries
- Lesson 5: Complex AFF Queries
- Lesson 6: Advanced FactFinder Tools
- Lesson 7: Advanced FactFinder Tools continued
- Lesson 8: Advanced FactFinder Tools continued
- Topic 4 Quiz
- Lesson 1: Debating Growth
- Lesson 2: Defining Growth
- Lesson 3: Demographic Types of Growth
- Lesson 4: Housing Types of Growth
- Lesson 5: Economic Growth
- Lesson 6: Mixing and Matching Growth Types
- Topic 5 Quiz
- Lesson 1: Definitions and Types of Projections
- Lesson 2: Cohort Survival Method
- Lesson 3: Housing Unit Approach, Part I
- Lesson 4: Housing Unit Approach, Part II
- Lesson 5: Household and Community Income and Wealth
- Lesson 6: Which Assumptions are Really Policy Decisions About Growth?
- Lesson 7: Other Data Sources
- Topic 6 Quiz
Course Overview
In the United States in 2006, a baby is born every eight seconds, someone dies every 12 seconds, and an immigrant arrives every 31 seconds. The result is the net addition of one person to the population every 14 seconds, roughly 2.252 million per year. Assuming a generous four persons per an average newly formed household, that population increase generates demand for another housing unit about every minute. That’s 1,440 units each and every day, or 525,600 per year. This is the most growth the United States has ever experienced in terms of numbers; growth rates were higher in the late 1800s and early 1900s, but the base was much smaller. The difference is, that great immigration period ended in the 1920s. There is no end in sight for the current population growth, unless Congress substantially changes immigration policies. If you are under age 40, you will likely see the U.S. population increase to 400 million (it just passed 300 million) and your children will see 500 million.
In short, assuming there will be no dramatic changes in immigration, growth has to occur somewhere and the planning profession is tasked with making it work.
Growth has many definitions, but the most common is probably, "More traffic and more development and more kids in schools." But, there are many types of growth: some desirable, some inevitable, some tolerable, and some not desirable. Each type has its own reasons and generators and each can be measured and predicted to some extent. Each type has its own set of benefits and problems. Some types of growth are tied to other types, so you cannot get one without the other. Some combinations of growth types may either offset each other’s negatives, or create a whirlwind of larger cumulative problems. In all these growth situations, a better understanding of the types of growth can assist planners and those they represent.
In other words, know your growth.
In reality, regional growth is the sum of local growth decisions. Growth does not "just happen," rather growth happens largely because local governments react to market trends and population projections, approve development entitlements, issue building permits, and because private developers and nonprofits complete housing units (or shopping centers, or whatever). People occupy the units, population increases, and the growth projections are largely fulfilled, making the projections accurate and "inevitable." We’ll get into the role of projections after we cover a lot of material about the census data BEHIND the projections that lead to growth.
In general, most census data users have some awareness of why and how census data are collected, but not enough. We just find census data and use it as if it were the best data in the world. It’s good, but not necessarily the best. There is a whole census jargon to learn, as well as the census geography for the nation. You could struggle through the Census Bureau’s 800-page technical documentations, or you can read the first four topics of this course which are, admittedly, not terribly exciting, but necessary. Census data are the best data to work with, and big changes are coming that will give us updated data every year for small geographic areas. Many planners will be married to growth planning and census data for a long time to come, so it would be wise to get to know both of them.
Finally, this course gives students the tools to calculate and compare market-driven growth to vision-driven growth, whether it's "Smart" or "Sprawl" or something in between. In reality, almost all growth is market-driven, for in most areas, governments directly sponsor relatively small amounts of development. Population projections should be set to match some level of market activity, and the job of local governments is to accommodate that demand, even if the local residents oppose it. Too often, planners and those in related fields assume market-driven growth is inevitable and desirable when often it is neither. The opposite of market-driven growth is vision-driven growth – the type, quantity, and timing of growth decided by a planning or visioning process. Planners will want to calculate both to know how different a vision scenario is from a market scenario. This helps determine the type of problems planners may encounter in implementing a vision, compared to accommodating growth. Either way, there are problems. Planning, in a sense, is just picking which set of problems to deal with: market- or vision-oriented.
The course is divided into six topics, and each topic has about six lessons. Three topics include video lecture presentations by course instructor Chris Williamson. These video presentations include slideshows and in-depth discussions of Census projections, using the American Community Survey, and types of growth. Many Internet links are also included in the course materials and every attempt is made to keep them up-to-date. Actual Internet pages may also differ somewhat from images shown in the course.
Students are assumed to be in a planning or related profession, or studying in those areas. As a basic prerequisite, students should have a fundamental understanding of the general or comprehensive planning and zoning that implements plans in most communities. Students should also have a basic working familiarity with census data (either the 1990 Census, or Census 2000), and an ability to read thematic and reference maps. If not familiar with all of these topics, students will still be able to work through the course and understand most of the material, however the progress may be slower, and/or not to its full potential.
Video Presentations
Three video training presentations with course instructor Chris Williamson are also included as part of this course. These streaming videos feature brief, informative lectures on course-related material presented by the instructor. Accompanying slideshows make it easy to follow along and learn about such topics as:
- Changes presented by collecting data with the new American Community Survey
- Using Census data to make projections and assumptions
- The 10 types of growth
AICP Certification Maintenance
This course has been approved to provide 4 credits for the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Certification Maintenance program.
Returning Student Discount
Returning Planetizen Courses students can also take advantage of a 15% discount off the price of another Planetizen Course (PLAN-310 and PLAN-315 exempted). To receive this discount, contact us at info@planetizen.com.
Purchasing Information
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