Urban Mobility and Social Equity in Latin America

Evidence, Concepts, Methods

Daniel Oviedo, Natalia Villamizar Duarte, Ana Marcela Ardila Pinto, Daniel Oviedo, Natalia Villamizar Duarte, Ana Ardila Pinto

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781787690110
• Topic: Tecnologia e ingegneria
• Subtopic: Trasporto e navigazione

This volume compiles contributions from international scholars on the social impacts of urban mobility and discussions on concepts and methods to examine the distributional effects of transport policies in Latin America.
Chapters discuss concepts and methods for explaining the distributional effects of transport policies and for exploring alternatives to ensure equity and non-discrimination in access for more inclusive cities. Recognizing the deep relationship between accessibility, equity and inclusion, the contributions in this book are collated in three sections: structural dimensions of accessibility, active travel and local accessibility, and accessibility of emerging mobilities. The book builds on a balanced collection of case studies and comparative perspectives that showcase territorial, economic, political and social drivers of urban mobility and the development of accessible and inclusive urban spaces in Latin American cities.

CHAPTER 1

SHOULD URBAN TRANSPORT BECOME A SOCIAL POLICY? INTERROGATING THE ROLE OF ACCESSIBILITY IN SOCIAL EQUITY AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA

Daniel Oviedo and Luis Ángel Guzmán

ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a critical examination of the interaction between concepts such as equity and accessibility in a framework of sustainable and inclusive urban development. The analysis compiles a series of reflections that build on previous research that focusses on the role of transport as enabler of opportunities for material and social capital, healthcare and leisure, which contribute to human development and well-being. The research discusses accessibility metrics for mandatory and non-mandatory travel in the context of current global agendas for social and development policies. It also introduces methodological reflections in relation to the analysis of accessibility indices from an equity perspective highlighting the role of equity metrics such as the Palma ratio and Lorenz curves. The authors link accessibility and urban development seeking to inform current approaches for policy development and assessment in a context of high manifested inequity. The research is set in the context of the Bogotá Metropolitan Region, a paradigmatic case of transport development and policy in the Global South. The findings seek to contribute to present transport policy and practice, providing relevant insights to support actions that redistribute accessibility to opportunities and questioning some of the paradigms of mainstream transport planning in cities like Bogotá, suggesting a more relevant role of transport policy as a potential engine of equity and social development.

Keywords: Equity; accessibility; transport; well-being; urban development; transport policy

1. INTRODUCTION

Mainstream transport planning in cities of the Global South tends to follow the principles of efficiency, resource maximisation and pursue economic growth via infrastructure investments resulting from a long-standing tradition of planning adopted mainly from North America and Europe. During the second part of the twentieth century, large-scale funding for infrastructure development took place globally, targeting improving speed and capacity for vehicle volumes under the assumption of a direct link between transport and economic growth. Such principles have governed the way in which most cities in Latin America have developed over five decades, following the introduction of the urban transport planning process in the 1960s and 1970s (Dimitriou & Gakenheimer, 2011). The critique to traditional principles of urban transport planning and the call for more interdisciplinary approaches to the planning, distribution and delivery of infrastructure and services for urban mobility have been extensively covered in the international literature (see Levy, 2013; Lucas & Jones, 2012; Martens, 2018). However, such critique has been almost entirely produced from scholars in the Global North, often overlooking the complexities inherent to urban development processes in emerging economies with higher rates of urbanisation and population growth than their more industrialised counterparts. Furthermore, traditional approaches to design, construction and operation of public transport systems in cities in regions such as Latin America, Africa and South East Asia still respond to planning criteria and regimes grounded in behavioural economics and on aggregated data sources that focus on the average user (Levy, 2013).

In contexts where historical infrastructure deficits and urban development regimes marked by informality, segregation and inequality have led to an unequal distribution of connectivity in cities (Oviedo & Dávila, 2016), the re-examination of traditional tenets of urban transport planning and delivery becomes an urgent issue of debate for urban researchers and practitioners. The relationships between social identity, transport and planning in the context of urban development in Latin America require critical reflections on the intersecting social relations of class, gender, ethnicity, religion, race, age and physical/mental ability in processes of urban development. Similarly, researchers and practitioners in modern urban transport planning, research and decision-making need examining how spatial and social mobilities intertwine in the reproduction of both spatial and social inequalities in cities. This chapter introduces accessibility and equity as alternative forms of interpretation of the current social consequences of transport policy and planning and inputs for reflection in relation to their potential implications for sustainable and inclusive development. The chapter focusses on differences by income, which despite not being representative of different social identities is an accepted proxy for social and economic differences which can lay the foundation for more in-depth analysis at more disaggregated scales.

One of the main limitations of mainstream approaches to transport planning adopted not only in the Global South but also in industrialised contexts is that these approaches tend to homogenise users based on dominant demographics, periods and areas of high travel demand, assuming observable mobility patterns as a reflection of the travel needs of the general population. The resulting standardisation of features of the population and its mobility needs lead to systems designed for very specific users: men of working age, with average purchasing power and with full physical and cognitive skills (Gössling, Schröder, Späth, & Freytag, 2016). This ‘normalisation’ and generalisation of users limits access to opportunities, goods and services offered by cities to socially vulnerable groups such as women, the elderly, children and people with reduced mobility. Not recognising that not all city dwellers are in the same social position to take advantage of available transport systems, forms of urban transport planning in most rapidly growing cities end up generating social exclusion effects on specific groups differentiated by the intersection of social identities of race, gender, age, class and physical and cognitive abilities.

Reflections about the limitations of traditional approaches to urban transport planning are essential in the context of global development agendas that increasingly recognise the social implications for transport planning and its interaction with other kinds of planning. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) encompass such recognition of the role of cities and their transport systems in achieving more inclusive and sustainable societies. Of course, one of the most relevant contributions of the SDGs is that cities are acknowledged as engines of development, which suggest a global commitment to transform cities into inclusive, accessible, safe, resilient and sustainable places.

The concept of accessibility, defined as ‘the extent to which land-use and transport systems enable individuals or group of individuals to reach activities or destinations by means of (a combination of) transport modes’ (Geurs & van Wee, 2004, p. 128), is suggested in this chapter and previous research as a way to understand the links between mobility and land use, and it has the potential to inform decision-making for more sustainable and just cities (Cheng & Bertolini, 2013). Accessibility incorporates dimensions beyond that of simply physical movement, going beyond the interpretation of mobility as travel. Accessibility is a well-known concept mostly that has been increasingly applied in research and practice, particularly in the Global North. Moreover, recent research suggests that if integrated into transport policies and practice, accessibility planning can reduce the gaps associated with socioeconomic, environmental and spatial inequalities in cities (Benevenuto & Caulfield, 2019; Levy, 2013; Levy & Dávila, 2017; Lucas, 2011; Vasconcellos, 2014).

Latin America is the most urbanised region on the planet, where about 80% of its population lives in cities (Roberts et al., 2017). Its rapid economic and demographic growth, paired with development, accompanied by a rapid increase in motorisation for private use (cars and motorcycles), contribute to low-quality urban expansion processes and socio-spatial inequities intimately connected with urban mobility. The steady increase in fleets of private vehicles has led to higher use of fossil fuels, leading to environmental degradation and adverse health effects. Despite such trends, Latin American cities still depend largely on public transport services, often operating informally, to address most travel needs for the population, suggesting a central role of public transport in urban mobility in the region (Hidalgo & Huizenga, 2013).

The added advantage of incorporating an accessibility approach to the analysis of urban mobility issues in Latin American cities is that it helps researchers and practitioners accounting for the inequalities in the spatial distribution of opportunities. Although most wealth and economic output of developing countries concentrate in cities, opportunities for employment, education and social development are concentrated in a handful of areas within urban environments, which boast comparatively greater connectivity and high land prices. In contrast, urban peripheries tend to act as focal points of concentration of extreme poverty, which creates huge inequalities between socioeconomic groups. According to a recent Global Monitoring Report (World Bank & International Monetary Fund, 2016), access and mobility are not distributed fairly in Latin America.

The urban form resulting from this inequitable urban model has a direct and negative impact on the well-being of the inhabitants of the region. A quick look at this situation reveals a worrying reality: large differences in access to opportunities and services for different socioeconomic groups. The consequences of high levels of socio-spatial segregation and urban inequalities translate into thousands of hours lost in traffic, growth in road accident levels, inefficiency in the provision of urban services and disproportionate levels of risk and exclusion of most vulnerable populations.

Transport deficiency can translate into difficulties in accessing social life, education, health and economic opportunities (Gwilliam, 2010). Likewise, inequalities in access have implications within households and generate high levels of accumulated marginalisation in their most vulnerable members (children, elderly and people with reduced mobility), or transferring costs disproportionately to others, because of their social position (e.g. women who are responsible for care and mobility of other household members) (Oviedo & Titheridge, 2016). In other words, the large costs of trips related to productive activities and urban settings that privilege such types of trips have negative implications in terms of access and inclusion of people who perform other functions, such as care travel, shopping, errands and other activities considered not mandatory.

This chapter also has policy relevance beyond the context of Bogotá and its surrounding municipalities as it showcases relevant concepts and methods for addressing the UN’s SDGs, particularly SDG 11 of sustainable and inclusive communities and cities. The research engages directly and indirectly with the target of achieving efficient and inclusive urban transport systems that serve as catalysts for positive changes in environmental, social and economic development. This chapter addresses mobility and planning of transport systems as means that mitigate problems of segregation and social, spatial and economic exclusion as recurring problems in cities from the Global South. In Section 2, the chapter provides an overview of conceptual approaches to accessibility and its intrinsic relationship with equity and inclusion. Building on such conceptual debates, in Section 3, we analyse the case of Bogotá, Colombia, focussing on the distribution of accessibility and equity. In Sections 4 and 5, the chapter stresses the relevance of targeted interventions to reduce access gaps, th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Urban Mobility and Social Equity: An Introduction
• Chapter 1  Should Urban Transport Become a Social Policy? Interrogating the Role of Accessibility in Social Equity and Urban Development in Bogotá, Colombia
• Chapter 2  Mobility and Gender Equity in Latin America: Different Mobile Burdens and Contributions in Montevideo (Uruguay)
• Chapter 3  Children and Urban Mobility: Care Dynamics on Family Mobility Patterns
• Chapter 4  ‘Like Sardines in a Can’. Gender, Stratification and Mobility in the Lives of Female Household Employees in Bogotá, Colombia
• Chapter 5  Sustainable Transport and Gender Equity: Insights from Santiago, Chile
• Chapter 6  Gendered Exploration of Emotive and Instrumental Well-Being for Cyclist Woman in Latin America
• Chapter 7  Active Commute to School, Physical Activity and Health of Hispanic High School Students in the United States
• Chapter 8  Children’s Mobility and Playability in the Neighbourhood of Río Piedras: Perspectives from Children and Adults
• Chapter 9  Mobility and Equity: The Problem of Access to City Spaces by Individuals Submitted to Psychiatric Hospitalisation
• Chapter 10  Urban Accessibility in Belo Horizonte, Brazil: A Case Study of Mobility Practices and Demands of People with Disabilities in the Mobility Systems
• Epilogue
• Index