The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and the University of Southern California (USC) Sol Price School of Public Policy organized the 28th Annual Demographic Workshop at USC’s University Park campus on Monday on June 26, 2017. Supporting partners for the workshop included the US Census Bureau, California State Census Data Center, California Department of Finance, California Department of Housing and Community Development, and Population Dynamics Research Group.

The workshop has grown in popularity over the years, with over 170 people attending this year. Student volunteers from schools throughout the region were recruited and organized by METRANS.

"The objective of the workshop is to discuss what’s new and what’s happening on population, households, and economic issues to support planning and decision making in a timely and effective manner,” shared John Cho, Senior Regional Planner at SCAG. “The demographic workshop is a good collaborative example between USC, a research organization, and SCAG, a planning organization. The workshop is a unique event to discuss demographic and economic issues and the implication on planning."

The first session, "Demographic Trends Under Trump Administration & New Demographics" focused on the disruption of immigration by new policies of the Trump administration and its possible impacts on changing demographics.  It was followed by panels titled "Fertility Rate: How Low Can It Go?" and "Immigration, Workforce & Housing: How Big a Change? What Additional Labor Can Be Cultivated?" These panels addressed implications for a sustained and declining fertility rate, despite economic recovery. On the workforce side, participants pointed out that California relies heavily on both low and high skill labor provided by immigrants.

The students found the third panel—titled "Robots: How Big A Change?”—particularly interesting and informative. The panelists challenged the general perception that robots take away jobs, and explained that it is more about automation and augmentation. They discussed how robots aid us to connect with people and not remove from the 'real world.' The advancement in technology, they noted, is helping us in building socially assistive robots where the responses are based on social sciences and the user's personality. Pilots and case studies included those where artificial intelligence (AI) is used for HIV awareness among homeless youth, to prevent poaching in African forests, and to increase public safety and security.

The afternoon roundtable was titled "Applying Big Data in Demographics" and consisted of six tables discussing data, demographics, housing, projections, and estimates. The workshop concluded with remarks from Professor Dowell Myers.

About the author: Prithvi Deore
Prithvi Deore is a second year Master of Planning student at USC’s Price School of Public Policy. She is interested in active transportation and public transit. She loves to do extensive GIS mapping and spatial analysis. She can be reached at [email protected].

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