Estudio del fenómeno de segregación urbana en la Localidad de Suba, Bogotá, desde el enfoque de la justicia ambiental

Abstract

Underlying the construction and transformation of urban spaces are complex social, spatial and environmental dynamics that generate the consolidation of differentiated areas in cities. This social diversity of intra-urban spaces has been studied from different conceptual and methodological approaches, from which a series of discussions about its causes and possible effects are raised. In this work, a description of the elements of differentiation of the spatial units (UPZ) that make up the locality of Suba was carried out, and its analysis was developed from the approaches of urban segregation and environmental justice. To define the components of social and environmental differentiation, the principal components analysis (PCA) technique was used, applied to quantitative variables from official statistical data related to demographic, economic, health and education aspects, as well as environment and access to facilities. As a result of the PCA, four components of social differentiation and four components of environmental differentiation were defined for the locality, and through the use of geographic information software, the spatial structure of each was determined based on their distribution and intensity. The comparison of the spatial units according to the eight components becomes complex, since the high or low values of each factor and its distribution in space can mean a better or worse relative situation, depending on the type of variables it relates. Therefore, it was necessary to calculate two indicators that integrate and weight the values of each component, and whose spatial distribution made it possible to define a socio-environmental profile of each UPZ and make comparisons between these spatial units. The results obtained show that in the locality of Suba there are areas of social and environmental differentiation, which account for precarious health conditions, exposure to risks and restrictions of access to urban facilities for low-income population groups. This spatial differentiation of the population and of the environmental and social conditions that define it, has a territorial meaning and reveals a process of segregation of the people living in the Tibabuyes and El Rincón UPZs.