How are we today? Quality of urban life in Argentina. First contributions from the Households Permanent Survey of Argentina (2003-2012)

LUCERO, P; ARES, S; MIKKELSEN, C

Social Inidcators Research Series.

Springer

Lugar: Heilderberg, Dordrecht, New York, London. ; Año: 2016 vol. 62 p. 81 - 108

To reflect on how the population lives is always an exciting assignment, since such challenge includes all of us beyond the social role we play. At this point the challenge is greater when the proposal is to investigate the population`s quality of life. This analytical category is well understood as a measure of achievement, determined by the scale of values prevailing in society, and which varies depending on the expectations of historical progress. It is all about this, developing social objective indicators, measures of a certain concept in a given time and space, sustained in the theoretical analysis, and integrated into a coherent system of variables and dimensions. In this sense, our aim is to investigate the levels of quality of life of the urban population in Argentina between 2003 and 2012, a period marked by the implementation of a new model of accumulation. For that purpose an index of quality of life of particular implementation is arranged, and applied to cities where the Permanent Household Survey (EPH-INDEC) is run, the databases of which correspond to 32 urban areas. The weighted index of quality of urban life consists of the Education, Health Care, Work and Housing dimensions. A Geographic Information System (GIS), a tool that facilitates the creation of thematic cartography and synthesis maps, is used for spatial treatment. The period proposed for the analysis coincides with the stage called Post-convertibility in Argentina, characterized by a unique model of accumulation with discrepant peculiarities with regard to the previous model of "convertibility" (1991-2001), both in the wider framework of the neoliberal accumulation regime. Therefore, these are attempts to analyze what happened with the well-being of Argentine households over the past ten years.