Current and future research and development to provide census information covering the social and economic characteristics of the population and its housing are discussed. This information will be collected in the 1970 decennial census for a variety of small geographic units within urban areas. The potential flexibility in aggregating the data in spatial units of significance for local urban planning is outlined. The possibilities of associating a grid coordinate system with the data to permit analysis by uniform land patterns, and the significance in distance relationships between specified areas or from specified points, are explored. Current proposals for new types of data of significance to urban planners which may be made available from the 1970 censuses are summarized. New ways of making the data available in more convenient form via computer tapes and more timely publications systems are also presented. Proposed developments in the 1967 economic censuses of business and industry, transportation and construction as they relate to the data needs of urban areas are discussed.
Abstract