| Erik Stubkjær |
Institute of Real Estate Studies, HUT, Finland |
October 2001
|
|
|
| Number
of units |
Name of unit
|
Map scale | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 102 | Diocese (7), County (14),
Court district (87) |
1:100.000 | ||
| Municipality (276) | ||||
| 103 | Parish (~1200)
Unit for population statistics
(Settlement) |
1:25.000 | ||
| 104 |
Township (~12.000)
(Municipal planning districts) 1 square kilometer (44.000) |
|||
| 105 |
Address codes
in population register (~120.000) |
1:15.000 | ||
| 106 | Property units
(Estates, dwellings, etc. ~2 mio) |
1:4.000
1:2.000 |
The dioceses, parishes, and court districts belong to the oldest layer of administrative subdivisions in Denmark. The unit 'township' was defined in the context of the establishment of the Danish fiscal cadastre. A 'township' was originally a corporation of farmers, rather than a contiguous area. However, a place name of the unit had to be available, too, to constitute a cadastral township. Therefor, you may find a cadastral township which included two geographically distinct corporations (Frandsen, 1976).
The relation among the units can be hierarchical: The Danish cadastral parcel reference number (Dale & McLaughlin, 1989: 39f) consisted of the elements: Parcel number and superscript letter (7a), Township, Parish, Court district, and County, until it was simplified as a consequence of a municipal reform, where it kept the hierarchical structure. Generally, however, you cannot be sure that smaller administrative units fit to the framework of the larger units, because different needs determine the geographical structure of the units.
The Municipalities were established through a municipal reform in the 1960s by amalgamation of parish communes. A variety of spatial units, including planning districts, were defined in these and subsequent years, mainly to serve the planning needs of the municipalities.
The growing need for international comparisons after the World War II raised the issue of common definition for statistical units. For example, the Nordic Conference of Statistical Agencies ('nordiske statistiske chefmøde') in 1960 adopted a common definition of the spatial unit of a 'locality', 'settlement', or urban district (Danish: 'bymæssig bebyggelse') to be used for the 1960 population census. This was made in accordance with deliberations of the UN Statistical Commission (Danmarks Statistik, 1968). This definition is independent of references to the administrative structures mentioned above, as it refers to number of persons (200), and distances between buildings (200 m). By 1970 the definition was further supported by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (Danmarks Statistik, 1975).
2.1 The Jurisdiction
The jurisdiction is the term for a spatial unit which denotes a domination. The prince has command over his principality. The bishop rules in his diocese, and the owner of a real estate disposes of all rights of his or her property. The way the ruler dominates, the 'content' of domination, differs among the examples. Common is, however, that real world domination - or, in other words - social control, is in effect. The borders of the dominated area may fluctuate or be firmly established, depending on the kind of society, and the technology available.
The best known unit within this category, that is the prototype, is likely to be the country or nation. Within the national boundaries the complex, modern society has established many jurisdictions, almost one hierarchy of units for every ministry of government. Some countries look for that many jurisdictions share boundaries, e.g. boundaries of local governments (municipalities) or parishes.
2.2 The Place
The place is the term for a spatial unit which is denoted by a place name. The urban square or market-place, or the town are likely to be the prototypes. However, the term applies to the spatial units to which we refer in ordinary conversation: towns and streets of all kind and sizes, parks and other objects described, e.g. by Kevin Lynch: The Image of the City, or more recently by Tuan and Johnson (cf. Raper: Reactions to positivist ..).
The diverse use of place names appears from the Swedish handbook on decimal classification system for the research libraries (Tekniska Litteraturselskabet, 1977). The handbook puts place names, parcel reference numbers, street names, and names of nations within the same clause: 801.311, that is within Language Science (800). Referring to this (Stubkjær, 1992) proposed a distinction between 'natural place names' and 'technical place names' like cadastral designations, address codes, etc. The former develop from the talk of the town (as permitted by the ruler) while the latter are established through an administrative procedure.
The conception of place names which is proposed here puts emphasis on who generates the place name rather then on the use of the name. This is consistent with the overall position that an understanding of socio-economic units should be achieved through investigation of language use, but refines the position to include a concern for change of language elements, e.g. the introduction of new vocabulary.
The jurisdictions mentioned above need a place name, unless the jurisdiction carries the name of the ruler. The distinction between the two categories, jurisdiction and place, are blurred when place names are used by the ruler to impose his world view on everyday affairs: The naming of Ho Chi Minh City (former Saigon), or some Stalin Avenue may serve as examples of how the relationship between controller and controlled is influenced through means of territoriality (Sack, 1986; Malmberg, 1980; Stubkjær, 1992).
Finally, it is noted that the relation between the place (the real world phenomena) and the place name has a more technical function for way finding, route descriptions, etc. During the last decennia rationalizations of the mail services and the use of computer technology has motivated a coding of place names in term of post codes, street coding, etc. (Raper et al, 1992).
2.3 The Region
The region is considered the prototype within geographic and other spatial research. Terms like 'zone' or 'field' is frequently applied in stead of 'region'. According to Bunge geographic regions may be uniform, experimental, nodal, or applied (Bunge, 1962: 14ff). The conception of 'region' has developed substantially since to include, among others, a reflection of perception, representation, language, code, and implementation of code (Burrough and Frank, 1995; cf. position paper by Raper).
The term 'region' is used here to denote the analytic, spatial unit which the researcher uses as a base for empirical or theoretical statements on geographical phenomena. The 'region' may be delimited by physical features, or by the product of power relations, it may be conceived as an object or an field. Decisive is only that the unit is defined and used by the scientific community for the purpose of scientific inquiry.
By definition 'region' is outside the realm of domination. Etymological, the term regio refers to direction, visible boundary, or tract. It may, however, be related to regius, royal, too (Worboys, 1995). 'Region' has no relation to place names, too, unless a scholar makes 'regions' to describe the distribution of place names with certain properties, in Danish e.g. the suffixes -torp, -bøl, -rød, -holt, -borg, -lev, and -um (Skautrup, 1944).
2.4 The District
The district is the term proposed for an area unit which is defined and used by an administration to perform or improve its functions. Census tract and planning zone or planning district count among the prototypes. Used by a governmental body, defining 'districts' for land use zoning has a flavor of governmental dominance, but a 'district' differs from a 'jurisdiction' in that a 'district' does not denote the spatial demarcation of an authority. Furthermore, a transportation company, or a sales department, divide their territory in 'districts' to rationalize their tasks.
'District' has common traits with 'region'. This is not surprising as administrations apply scientific knowledge for fulfilling their task. Whether the application of 'Broadbent's rule' and 'zone design' methodologies (Raper: Position paper:2) result in 'regions' or 'districts' is eventually determined by the purpose: Searching for new knowledge, or solving an administrative task, respectively.
2.5 Summary and discussion
Four classes of socio-economic, spatial units have been presented: The jurisdiction, the place, the region, and the district. The main discerning criteria was the 'actor' or body who applied the unit: The ruler, the public, the scientist, and the officer or company staff, respectively. This may be considered an interpretation of Habermas' position which states that human interests structure knowledge and that different epistemologies are appropriate for each (Raper, Position paper: 3). For example, public administration, at least in its classical, bureaucratic form, takes an instrumental or 'technical' interest in the world, and, consequently, positivist assumptions are maintained: The real estate which from the owners point of view is a 'jurisdiction' becomes, through the eyes of many European cadastral officers, a 'district' with clear cut boundaries of which the officer, and not the owner, takes responsibility.
A fifth class, labeled by the term area, may be counted, although this is a mathematical and not a socio-economic unit. 'Area' is similar to 'region' as both are used by scientists, but 'region' refers to the surface of the Earth while 'area' may refer to any delimited surface. Therefore, 'area' is probably used as the most general term for spatial units. Different disciplines of mathematics coin each their terms. Analytical geometry conceives 'area' as the wellknown (metric) measure of extent of a plane surface. The discipline of graph theory is not concerned with metric properties (part of it may be called 'rubber sheet geometry'). The different conception of a delimited surface is denoted by the term 'face' (e.g. Wilson, 1985; and for applications in GIS: Bartelmé, 1989; Laurini & Thompson, 1992).
(Quoted from Stubkjær: Spatial, socio-economic units and societal needs - Danish experiences in a theoretical context, to appear in Frank et al (Eds) (1999) GISDATA series no 9)
Boundary marks may define (the boundary of) a property unit, but the mark does not identify the unit.
Experience from the development of the Danish Building and Dwelling Register: Present (geodetic) theory does not cover practice. There are other ways of expressing spatial relations than trough coordinate systems.