A social geography of the belfast urban area, 1971

Abstract

The 1971 Census of Population was the first United Kingdom census to geo‐code the data by grid referencing. This was used to provide a matrix of variables on a system of one kilometre grid squares for the Belfast Urban Area. Principal Components Analysis of this data enabled three dimensions to be identified: Social Structure, Age Structure and Ethnic Structure. The distribution of these three dimensions is discussed, and a hierarchical grouping procedure is employed to summarise the spatial variation in these three dimensions into eight regional types.