Socioeconomic Urban Environment in Latin America: Towards a Typology of Cities

Abstract

This paper aims to identify typologies of Latin American cities based on socioeconomic urban environment patterns. We used census data from 371 urban agglomerations in 11 countries included in the SALURBAL project to identify socioeconomic typologies of cities in Latin America. Exploratory factor analysis was used to select a set of variables, and finite mixture modelling (FMM) was applied to identify clusters to define the typology of cities. Despite the heterogeneities among the Latin American cities, we also found similarities. By exploring intersections and contrasts among these clusters, it was possible to define five socioeconomic regional typology patterns. The main features of each one are low-education cities in Northeast Brazil; low-unemployment cities in Peru and Panama; high-education cities in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico; high female labor participation, with high primary education in Argentina and low primary education in Brazil; and low female labor participation and low education in Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico. Identifying clusters of cities with similar features underscores understanding of the urban social and economic development dynamics and assists in studying how urban features affect health, the environment, and sustainability.

Keywords: Latin America; finite mixture models; socioeconomic typology of cities.

Figure 1. Normalised distribution of values of variables in the clusters.

LABPART_F: Labor force participation rate among the female population 15 years or above; UNEMP: The unemployment rate among the total population 15 years or above in the labor force; MINPR: Proportion of the population aged 25 or older who completed primary education or above; MINHS: Proportion of the population aged 25 or older who completed secondary education or above; WALLDUR2: Proportion of dwellings with exterior walls mostly made of brick, stone, concrete, cement, and/or similar materials; WATNET: Proportion of dwellings with water from a public network.

Figure 2. Geographic distribution of cities according to the social environment typology.

See also Table A2 in Appendix B lists all cities included in the study.

Figure 3. Boxplot of clusters unbundled by cities country.

LABPART_F: Labor force participation rate among the female population 15 years or above; UNEMP: The unemployment rate among the total population 15 years or above in the labor force; MINPR: Proportion of the population aged 25 or older who completed primary education or above; MINHS: Proportion of the population aged 25 or older who completed secondary education or above; WALLDUR2: Proportion of dwellings with exterior walls mostly made of brick, stone, concrete, cement, and/or similar materials; WATNET: Proportion of dwellings with water from a public network.