Project Outline

Geodemographic profiles of individuals, households and small areas are already recognised to be pivotal to tactical and strategic resource management in many areas of business, and could become similarly central to efficient and effective deployment of resources by public services. Profiles might be created using new and existing sources of public sector data alongside detailed, locationally disaggregate and frequently updated data from commerce. Such sources remain severely under-used in academic and public service research, as recognised in the March 2003 Commission on the Social Sciences report. Data sources that are created within many of the public services could be used to provide valuable context to decision-making, but remain neglected by potential users within and around public services.

This research sets out an agenda for adapting best practices for developing and using geodemographics in public service delivery, and identifies how a geographic information system (GIS) can crystallise the motivations and impediments to such transfer. A specific empirical objective of this research is to establish a demonstrator GIS that, though pooling of public and private sector data, could serve the needs of diverse interest groups that have a shared interest in the regeneration of the King’s Cross site – one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in the EU this decade – whilst minimising disruption and harm to the area’s existing communities. Developments in the case study site include construction of the Channel Tunnel link and terminus, diversion of local road networks and utilities, and substantial retail and residential redevelopment.

To achieve this objective an integrated georeferenced data set for Camden/Islington area of North London has been built, with the intention of making it available through an interactive project Website. It is expected that the Website will include a 3-D visualisation of the study area, and will make it possible for stakeholders to address issues such as street crime, adaptation of retail structure and the health impact analysis of the development. Central to accomplishing this is the pooling of data from a range of partners in the public and private sectors.

The reseach suggests that, hitherto, stark differences in working environments and practices have masked the commonalties of interest in geodemographic analysis extant within and between the public and private sectors. An objective of this study is to create a research network that crystallises these commonalties amongst local stakeholders, and thus makes possible an improved evidence base for local public service delivery. Viewed prospectively, this research also suggests a catalytic role for the academic sector in defining and achieving important strategic synergies across the public-private divide.