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The widespread availability of geographic information systems (GIS) and computer mapping software allows individuals with little or no cartographic knowledge and experience to prepare maps for planning purposes. While these maps are often satisfactory, they may not serve their intended purposes. Some of the common mistakes that planners make in preparing maps are identified and ways to avoid them are suggested. Some key considerations in map making are introduced and a series of practical tips that will help planners produce more effective maps are offered.
Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 26, No. 4, 404-414 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0739456X06298820
© 2007 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning
Exploring Changes in Income Clustering and Centralization during the 1990s
Casey J. Dawkins
Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech, Virginia Center for Housing Research
This article employs a new "spatial ordering index" to describe and explain changes in the degree of income clustering and centralization within U.S. metropolitan areas during the 1990s. The results suggest that while the spatial pattern of household income became more decentralized and less clustered during the 1990s, the patterns established as of 1990 were highly persistent over the decade. Factors associated with metropolitan area size and growth affected changes in both the degree of centralization and the degree of clustering. Although traditional determinants of suburbanization were associated with increases in income decentralization during the 1990s, densely developed cities with an increase in the percentage of white residents saw increases in income centralization during the decade. Furthermore, changes in the patterns observed were shaped by various policy influences, including the number of Low Income Housing Tax Credit units, urban containment policies, and the degree of local government fragmentation.
Key Words: economic segregation • spatial analysis • metropolitan governance • urban containment • growth management