Center for Spatial Studies

More than 40 researchers participated in a 2-day meeting on future directions in spatial demography (Santa Barbara, Dec. 2011). Each participant prepared a position paper that addressed such questions as the following:

• How are demographers measuring place and the interrelationships among places?

• How can demographers harness emerging developments in the generation of geospatial data (e.g., volunteered geographic information and crowd-sourced data)?

• How can new measures be validated for use in neighborhood and contextual research?

• What visualization and spatial analytical methods make up the current tool kit of the spatial demographer?

• What new methodological developments in spatial analysis are possible in the next five years and how might these be integrated into mainstream demographic research?

• What are the training challenges to the enhancement of future research in spatial demography?

• What research priorities will best advance the applicability of spatial demography to address issues in reproductive health.