Índice de habitabilidad urbana para el análisis de la vivienda en la ciudad de Toluca, México.

Silvia Andrea Valdez Calva, Arturo Venancio Flores, Liliana Romero Guzmán

Resumen:

La base de la habitabilidad urbana parte de la vivienda y los elementos urbanos que integran la ciudad, por esta razón la delimitación de variables urbanas y de vivienda se vuelve un medio para medir la habitabilidad urbana de un mismo territorio. Por lo anterior, el objetivo parte de la construcción de un índice con datos estadísticos para poder georreferenciar el grado de habitabilidad urbana; utilizando como área de estudio al municipio de Toluca, México a través de las AGEB urbanas que lo componen, obteniendo como resultado el grado actual de habitabilidad urbana. Las conclusiones señalan la pertinencia de medir la habitabilidad urbana para contribuir en la toma de decisiones de políticas públicas y con ello en la mejora de la habitabilidad urbana.

Abstract:

Livability as an object of study from architecture and urbanism is a concept referring to the spatial needs of the person based on the mínimum conditions of accessibility, health and comfort that buildings and their surroundings must provide (Torres Pérez, 2020). However, in the Mexican context, within housing regulations and policies, there is an emphasis on the physical and desingn elements that housing must contain, and a lack of contemplation towards the elements of the urban environment that are also necessary to provide a adequate livability. From this perspective, Ziccardi (2015) points out that the lack of consideration of livability within housing policies can be identified through problems such as: the distant location from sources of employment, urban centers and schools, the cost overruns associated with the room in the house; the insecurity, and the attributes of the dwelling, such as the por quality of the materials, the size and the lack or deficiency of equipment, infraestructure and basic services. For this reason, Alcalá (2007) adds that the problem of livability must transcend to a scale greater than housing and be considered from urban scales; although the environmental variables are not excluded becaused the location, the natural characteristics of the territory and the legal situation of the property are requirements to authorize the type of housing complex and housing, as well as the socioeconomic and cultural profile of the inhabitant are social foundation for the type of housing and subsidies, however, are variables that are not specified within the mexican regulations. The foregoing refers to a problem of livability within the regulations to a greater extent towards the urban environment, because there is a lack of definition on the urban scale, in terms of population center and in relation to the mínimum urban elements, to achieve housing and livable cities. Overall, the research livability condotions of homes and the urban environment in the face of the social isolation imposed by COVID-19 (2021) carried out by the group of researchers from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), indicates that in Mexico it is necessary carry out livability studies, as it is a concept that admits the interrelation between the person ans space, in order to understand the various needs that housing and the urban environment must satisfy to achieve habitable spaces and even more so that they can respond to situations of emergency such as the isolation imposed by the pandemic caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus. Given this, the questions arise: is it possible to measure urban livability? And if possible, does the delimitation of urban variables make it possible to create an index that measures the degree of urban livability that the dwelling in the same territory presents? Of which the objective is the development of a methodology that allows the construction of an index to measure the degree of urban livability of the same territory, based on statistical variables and with it to be able to georeference the results obtained. In this way, the methodology is empirically based on the construction of an index that groups a set of variables that account for the degree of urban livability, both at the housing level and at the urban level, for this purpose the National Geostatistical Framework is used by means of which it is possible to carry out analysis through the use of spatial-territorial scales in this case: housing – Basic Geostatistical Area (AGEB) – locality – municipality. The measurement of urban livability by means of scales allows generating lines of action at the municipal level, by identifying in a timely manner the most affected localities and AGEB in terms of physical elements; highlighting that the analyzes at larger scales generate in most cases a dispersion on the location of the deficiencies of urban livability. Likewise, for its preparation, information obtained and compiled from official documentary sources that have open databases is requiered, specifically from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) throuhg the Population and Housing Census (INEGI, 2021a) and from the Directory National Statistics of Economic Units (INEGI, 2021b) both corresponding to the year 2020, in order to consult, process and analyze the degree of urban livability through 17 variables defined from the criteria established by current regulations in Mexico through the establishment of minimum parameters. The 17 statistical variables used within the urban livability index represent physical elements that, according to mexican regulations, housing and its urban environment must have in order to meet the basic needs of people and achieve good urban livability, therefore, they indicate the degree of urban livability in which the population is located for each AGEB analyzed. For the generation of the unique data (index) the results of the variables are expressed through percentages to eliminate the effect of the population volume of each AGEB and allow a direct comparison of the degree of occurrence of each of the 17 determined forms of livability between each of the AGEB analyzed. For the area of study and application of the urban livability index, the municipality of Toluca, Mexico is defined, and as a minimum scale its Basic Geostatistical Areas that compose it, as it is the smallest disaggregation area on which minimum elements of the urban environment can be applied. Finally, in the conclusions it is observed that within the architectural and urban studies, urban livability is presented as a normative concept from which the minimum conditions of functionality, accessibility, comfort and health that the dwelling and the urban environment must have in order to establish meet the needs of the person. Although it is recognized that it is a quantitative method, it works as a preamble to show the general panorama from which specific case studies can be created to understand in detail the defferent housing realities within a municipality. Consequently, urban livability is presented by means of quantifiable elements that can be recognized both in the home and in the urban environment, for which its measurement is feasible to define the deficiencies in terms of minimum parameters. For this reason, the analysis of urban livability from the construction of an index is manifested as a valid means to know and verify the situation of each spatial unit in relation to other geographical entities.