Caveat: This post was written a year ago and since then Meshblock has been updated.

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Cameron Prebble @cameron_prebble has created a tool called Mashblock @MashblockNZ that displays data from Statistics NZ in a clean, digestible, graphic format. The data presented is from 2013 but there is an option via a drop down menu to select 2006 or 2001 data aswell.

@SarahLibrarina thanks for your support. All of our data is from the 2013 Census. We are working on improving our graphics for gender data.

— mashblock◆ (@MashblockNZ) June 14, 2014

Mashblock makes it simple for me to see what is happening within a meshblock and area unit in terms of demographic distribution. The main area units in Dunedin that have the highest student aged populations are:

North East valley, usual resident population

• 47.33% Males
• 52.67% Females

Dunedin North, 3465 usual resident population

• 44.46% Male  [n=2,184]
• 55.54% Females [n=2,430]

Otago University, 5082 usual resident population

• 45.43% Males [n=2,310]
• 55.47% Females [n=2775]

Where it gets interesting for me is at meshblock level (the smallest level of measurment) and the gender demographics within that small area. Let’s take Castle Street as an example: The meshblock between Duke and Howe Streets has a fairly even distribution of male and female residents (54.84% males : 45.16% females). It should be noted that this meshblock includes a postgraduate hall of residence. However crossing Howe Street to the next meshblock reveals a much higher female population (30.77% males : 69.23% females). The adjoining mesh block which includes Selwyn College, also has a high female population (40% males : 60% females). Females are also in higher proportion in the two meshblocks in Leith Street Nth.

Meshblocks where we see more student aged males residing are west of George Street (70.83% males : 29.17% females), …

Areas that traditionally display a higher level of flat naming are Clyde Street and Hyde Streets. Looking at the gender distribution it is easy to see that on Clyde Street, south of Albany, there are significantly more males than females (62.50% males : 37.50% females) where Hyde Street has more of a balance (52.38% males : 47.62% females) in 2013, and has done so in 2006 and 2001 too.

Links

Mashblock

Cameron’s website

Hear Vaughan Davis talk about Mashblock, his ‘site of the week’ (16 May 2014)