Purpose
The UC/L Structure groups CDs together to form defined areas according to population size criteria. The resulting areas are known as Urban Centres or Localities. Population counts (place of enumeration) from the latest Census of Population and Housing are used to define the UC/L Structure which means this classification structure is only current at the time of the Census. Both the Urban Centre and the Locality spatial units are made up of one or more contiguous CDs. As the UC/L Structure relates to CDs within defined areas only, the structure, in aggregate, does not cover all of Australia.
The UC/L Structure is used for the production of standard ABS statistical outputs from Population Censuses such as Selected Social and Housing Characteristics for Urban Centres and Localities (cat. nos 2016.0–.7), CDATA96 (cat. nos 2019.0.30.001–.8.30.001) and Community Profiles (cat. nos 2020.0–.9).
The UC/L Structure is separate from the Main Structure because:
- the boundaries do not generally coincide with SLAs and the higher level spatial units in the Main Structure; and
- its total area covers only part of Australia.
The structure
The UC/L Structure is defined at Population Census times only. It comprises in ascending hierarchical order: CDs–Urban Centres/Localities.
CDs within this structure are confined to those within defined Urban Centre and Locality boundaries. As a consequence, Urban Centres and Localities aggregate to cover only part of a State or Territory and thus the structure covers part of Australia only.
Urban Centres may be bisected by an S/T boundary. Where this occurs each portion of the urban centre is separately identified and is included in the Urban Centre/Locality Structure for the relevant S/T. For example, the urban centre of Albury-Wodonga is partly in New South Wales and partly in Victoria. One part is shown under New South Wales and the other under Victoria.
Table
Urban Centres and Localities are delimited by the use of actual population counts after each census is conducted. The urban centres and localities determined following the 1996 Census are listed in the publication Statistical Geography: Volume 3 - Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Urban Centres/Localities (cat. no. 2909.0).
In this table, Urban Centre and Locality names are listed alphabetically and UC/L codes are arranged in ascending numerical order within each S/T. An (L) is shown after Locality names to distinguish Localities from Urban Centres.
Listings of component CDs of 1996 Urban Centres and Localities are available through all ABS offices.