Littérature scientifique sur le sujet « Spatial income inequality, local public services, residential segregation »

The study of the relationship between the provision of local public services and residential segregation is critical when it might be the social manifestation of spatial income inequality. This paper analyzes how the spatial accessibility to local public services is distributed equitably among different social and economic groups in the Metropolitan Area of Santiago (MR), Chile. To accomplish this objective, I use accessibility measures to local public services such as transportation, public education, healthcare, kindergartens, parks, fire and police stations, cultural infrastructure, and information about housing prices and exempted housing units from local taxes by block, as well as quantile regressions and bivariate Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA). The main results confirm the accessibility to local public services is unequally distributed among residents. However, it affects more low-income groups who are suffering from significant deficits in the provision of local public services. In this scenario, poor residents face a double disadvantage due to their social exclusion from urban systems and their limited access to essential services such as education, healthcare, or transportation. In particular, I found that social residential segregation might be reinforced by insufficient access to local infrastructure that the most impoverished population should assume.

Residential income segregation is a spatial manifestation of social inequality and is an important factor that influences access to resources, services, and amenities. In general, past research analyzing income segregation has applied index-based methods to describe the separation of low-income households at one spatial scale; however, existing studies have not yet considered how income segregation varies across multiple income classes, spatial scales, and local contexts. This study applies a multilevel multigroup modeling approach to explore the global and local patterns of income segregation between dissemination areas (micro-scale), census tracts (meso-scale), and neighborhoods (macro-scale) in Toronto, Canada. A global model that estimates the overall multiscale segregation of five income classes finds that the most affluent families had the highest levels of segregation and that the segregation of all income classes was strongest at the macro- and micro-scales. A local model that allows the micro-scale segregation measures to vary geographically shows that higher-income families were less segregated in the city center than in the inner suburbs, that middle-income families were highly segregated in areas serviced by public transit, and that almost all income classes had high levels of segregation in disadvantaged neighborhoods prioritized for investment by local policymakers. The methodological and substantive contributions of this study for understanding the complex patterns of income segregation are discussed.

Spatial income inequality has received a considerable interest in the empirical literature. This stylized fact drives diverse aspects of regional economic growth with important consequences in social, geographical and political aspects. Moreover, regional disparities affect socio-economic development of individuals and extend their effects to the unequal distribution of living standards and opportunities across communities. One manifestation of spatial income inequality can be observed in the stratification of socioeconomic groups across space by linking this fact directly with the provision of local public services. In this sense, segregated groups not only reside in isolated communities but also, they live in diverse local jurisdictions that can differ in terms of fiscal and administrative capacities to provide local public services. Therefore, local governments matter because can exacerbate spatial income inequality due to its influence on the spatial distribution of local public services. The last element is crucial to understand why the quantity or quality of local public services differs across communities by affecting mainly to the poorest population, who are the most important target group for the application of these public policies. This thesis consists of three chapters that explore the relationship between spatial income inequality and the distribution of local public services. Particularly, the three chapters consider the relevant role that local governments play in the provision of these services. By doing so, we analyze the case of Chile, one of the most unequal countries of the world with a Gini index above 50 percent. This country has received a remarkable attention by scholars, researchers, and policymakers mainly for two aspects. First, the outstanding economic performance of Chile that can be observed on crucial socioeconomic indicators such as the poverty rate with a significant reduction from 40 percent in 1987 to 14 percent in 2014. Second, an important interest has received the high and persistent income inequality that the country exhibits where space plays an important role in its composition. Paredes, Iturra, and Lufin (2014) showed that 21 percent of income inequality can be attributable to differences across communities. Although this aspect is crucial to understand its persistence over time, this new evidence does not provide a complete picture of how this spatial income inequality is working. This thesis contributes to the better comprehension of this problem by considering the provision of local public services as a critical source of spatial income inequality. Therefore, differences in terms of financial and administrative capacities of local governments can determine the distributional effects of decentralized public policies such as education or healthcare which are designed to reduce income inequality. Finally, this thesis contributes to improving the association between the spatial income inequality manifestations and institutional aspects for a better understanding of this aspect which has been relatively less explored by the empirical literature. Chapter 1 studies how the omission of local public policies can affect the results of conventional measures of spatial income inequality. This paper offers an interesting overview of spatial income inequality and how it is affected by the provision of local public services in Chile. In this sense, we recognize that financial and institutional restrictions that local government face can explain the unequal distribution of local revenues across communities. Main results suggest that local public policies have been more effective than cash transfers to reduce income inequality. However, the inclusion of local public services managed largely by local governments increase spatial income inequality by about 20 percent. In this way, this paper highlights the surge of local public governments as a new potential source of inequality which cannot be ignored by the literature. This last statement is used as starting point for the second chapter to study how disparities in the provision of local public services can be observed in the space. Chapter 2 goes beyond the role of local public services by studying the relationship between their spatial distribution and residential segregation. The latter is considered as the most important manifestation of spatial income inequality because relates the location and characteristics of individuals with social equity issues. In this vein, the paper studies how the spatial accessibility to local public services is equitably distributed among different social and economic groups across the Metropolitan Area of Santiago (MR), Chile. In this way, we assume the residential segregation is not only observed in the clear distinction of economic groups across communities, also, it can be reinforced by the unequal distribution of local public services across the space. From this analysis, we can observe high disparities for accessing to local public services which are affecting more to the poorest population. Under this scenario, this crucial target group of public policies is affected by a “double-disadvantage” due to their exclusion from urban systems and their limited access to services such as education, healthcare or transportation (Borsdorf, Hidalgo, & Zunino, 2013) (Li H. , Wang, Shi, Deng, & Wang, 2017). Moreover, we found evidence that confirms that Chilean social housing policies could be considered as one cause of residential segregation given the resettlement of the poorer population to the periphery of the MR which is reinforced by the insufficient accessibility levels they must assume. Finally, Chapter 3 explores other aspects of spatial income inequality issues that concern the relationship between the spatial distribution of urban amenities and housing prices. Urban amenities have received a great attention by the scientific literature because can explain why some cities are more attractive than others. On the other hand, a large empirical body recognizes that the spatial distribution of amenities matters because they might stimulate regional economic growth, urban population, and employment. In this paper, we address this relationship through a hedonic pricing modeling and a set of urban amenities that includes local private and public services. Moreover, we recognize that capitalization of urban amenities into housing prices can be spatially heterogeneous distributed. Main results suggest that urban amenities play an important role in the definition of housing prices. However, we found important differences between private and local public services. Particularly, private services such as schools or hospitals have positive capitalizations in housing prices, meanwhile their public versions have negative valuations in housing prices. Again, these results can be related to administrative and financial restrictions that municipalities face providing local public services. Lastly, public policy implications can be redirected to optimize the spatial distribution of local public services by improving the match between residents’ demand and their provision.

En América Latina, la implantación del neoliberalismo como sistema económico ha llevado a un modelo de desarrollo con elevada heterogeneidad y desigualdad socioeconómica. De la mano de grandes cambios sociales y demográficos, las áreas urbanas experimentaron un acelerado desarrollo, crecimiento económico desigual en la distribución del ingreso, el aumento del desempleo y altos niveles de informalidad urbana. Enmarcado en esta realidad la producción del espacio urbano, se llevó adelante a través de la gestión de tres actores sociales: 1.el mercado inmobiliario; 2. el Estado nacional y 3. los asentamientos informales. De ellos, el estado cumple un rol fundamental en la construcción de la ciudad encauzando o restringiendo el desarrollo de ciertos espacios ya sea a través de la acción (implementación de políticas públicas, normativas, etc.) o de la omisión. En un contexto en el que persiste la ausencia de planificación, la carencia de un marco que defina el modo de ocupación del territorio, impone la lógica del mercado inmobiliario como criterio urbanístico principal, incluso para las actuaciones de promoción pública de vivienda. Ello impacta de modo negativo en la ciudad en la medida que favorece la especulación en manos del sector privado, produce segregación residencial y desigualdad en el acceso al suelo puesto que amplios sectores quedan fuera del mercado formal. Lo cual se tradujo en la conformación de áreas diferenciadas dentro de la ciudad agudizando la separación entre sectores sociales. A partir del 2003, en Argentina en virtud al crecimiento económico que se produce con posterioridad a la crisis 2001-2002, el Estado Nacional retomó los planes de vivienda a fin de dar solución al problema habitacional haciendo hincapié en programas de relocalización, radicación y regularización dominial de villas y asentamientos informales, articulando con trabajo cooperativo que implicaba la intervención una medida conjunta con el problema de desocupación. A las existentes políticas habitaciones de construcción de viviendas ejecutadas por los Institutos Provinciales de Vivienda (IPV), se sumaron un conjunto de políticas sociales que articulan programas de diversos órdenes, nacional, municipal, provincial y del IPV. (Argentina Trabaja, Municipio+Cerca, PROMEVI, PROMEBA, etc) enlazando la problemática habitacional a la social. Sin embargo estas medidas no revierten el sentido dominante que poseen las políticas públicas en materia de vivienda (del Río y Duarte, 2012) puesto que la construcción de viviendas sin sustento normativo ni planificación, o la consolidación y regularización de asentamientos populares en áreas vulnerables, lejos de mitigar las desigualdades existentes, producen efectos negativos en la ciudad. En este contexto, este trabajo analiza las consecuencias de las nuevas políticas habitacionales en el Área Metropolitana de Tucumán (AmeT), a casi 10 años de implementación de un conjunto de medidas sociales específicas, en teoría tendientes a la equidistribución del acceso al suelo urbano. In Latin America, the implementation of neoliberalism as an economic system has led to a development model with high heterogeneity and socioeconomic inequality. The adoption of policies of liberalization, deregulation and economic flexibility, along with the withdrawal of the state of urban management, major changes occurred in the cities. In the hands of great social and demographic change, urban areas experienced rapid development, uneven economic growth in the distribution of income, rising unemployment and high levels of urban informality. Framed in this reality, the production of urban space, was carried out by the management of three social actors: 1.The real estate market; 2 and 3 the national state informal settlements. Of these, the state plays a key role in building the city damming or restricting the development of certain areas either through action (implementation of public policies, regulations, etc.) or omission. Therefore, in a context in which the lack of planning continues, the lack of a framework defining how land occupation imposes the logic of urban real estate market as the main criterion, even for actions of public housing development. This impacts negatively on the city to the extent that speculation favors the private sector, produce residential segregation and inequality in access to land as large sections remain outside the formal market. Which results in the formation of distinct areas within the city exacerbating the gap between social sectors. In Argentina, under the economic growth that occurs after the 2001-2002 crisis, the Federal Government returned home plans to solve the housing problem but with a twist to the social, to meet the needs of the most vulnerable sectors of society. From being solely residential construction (turnkey system) executed by the Provincial Housing Institutes (IPV), policies will be passed to a set of social policies that articulate programs of various orders, domestic, municipal, provincial and IPV. (Argentina Works, Municipality + Close, PROMEVI, PROMEBA Law Pierri implementation of regularization, etc.) that link to social housing problems. However, this has not had the expected results in relation to urban problems. While the need for regional planning was promoted through the PET National and Provincial (Regional Strategic Plan), all implemented programs were developed without proper management tools to define the criteria for the consolidation and development from the Federal Government city and thus ended conspiring against it, as a stage of collective life. The lack of training of local technicians, the use of these programs clientelitas purposes by local politicians and rampant corruption, contributed to aggravating the observed trends. This suggests that the construction of new housing or consolidation or regularization of squatter settlements in vulnerable areas without legal justification and planning, far from mitigating the inequalities, negative effects on the city. Under this hypothesis, this paper analyzes the impact of new housing policies in the Metropolitan Area of Tucumán (AMET), nearly 10 years of implementing a set of tending to the equal distribution of access to urban land social measures. It is concluded that the actions taken by the State produced an increase and consolidate the processes of fragmentation and emerging socio-spatial segregation of Tucuman AMET.

This paper presents an overview of how health outcomes vary across cities in Latin America and discusses some of the known drivers of this variation. There are large disparities in outcomes across cities and across neighborhoods of the same city. Because health is closely related to the socioeconomic conditions of individuals, part of the spatial variation reflects residential segregation by income. Local characteristics also have a direct effect on health outcomes, shaping individuals' access to health services and the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles. In addition, urban environments affect health through natural atmospheric conditions, through local infrastructure in particular water, sanitation, and urban transit and through the presence of urban externalities such as traffic congestion, pollution, crime, and the spread of transmissible diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic illustrates many of these patterns, since the impact of the disease has differed sharply across cities, and much of this variation can be explained by observable local characteristics particularly population, connectivity with other cities and countries, income levels, and residential overcrowding.