Quality of Life and commuting. A study in rururban comunities of General Pueyrredon district, Argentina

MIKKELSEN, C; ARES, S

Quality of Life in Communities of Latin Countries.

Springer

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2017 p. 55 - 81

2520-1093

Search for quality of life of the population becomes one of the explanatory causes of residential mobility. Residents move within the territory, use it, make it dynamic and, at the same time, it offers them possibilities or difficulties. In this sense, the processes of urban growth, which spread population centers around road networks, encourage the intensification of everyday commuting and the demands for new services, among which the public passenger transport system and the educational and health infrastructure are leaders (health centers, sewer, main water supply). Currently, in General Pueyrredon County (620,000 inhabitants, 2010) (Buenos Aires, Argentina), commuting becomes visible due to the expansion of the urban conglomerate headed by Mar del Plata and the growth of small towns, close to the access routes to the main town, where the population forms communities that are distinguished by their strong interpersonal links, meanings, values and shared interests. The study area comprehends the whole of the district, but underlines localities having less than 10,000 inhabitants, as it is the area which, over the last three decades, has shown greater demographic and housing growth rate. Accordingly, our aim is to increase peoples awareness over uneven regular movements of inhabitants of rural-urban communities of General Pueyrredon County, taking into account the design of the public transport network, the location of schools and health centers, with the aim of deepening the analysis of the well-being conditions of the people residing there. Methodologically, we use systematized and analyzed data of the national censuses of 1991, 2001 and 2010, attained by the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC), with the purpose of studying demographic growth and the composition of households. We also exploit secondary data that allow characterizing public educational and health services in the studied communities. Similarly, we utilize primary data of commuting and geographic narratives linked to living in minor localities within General Pueyrredon County, evaluated as significant testimonies that allow interpreting and understanding the dynamics observed in the territory. We apply quantitative as well as qualitative analysis techniques, and a system of geographic information for the treatment of georeferenced data.Results will illustrate the inequality of opportunities in commuting and the generation and consolidation of situations of vulnerability in the analyzed communities, in relation to their quality of life.Key words: quality of life, community, commuting, inequality, southeast of Buenos Aires.