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

Gervásio F. dos Santos, Alejandra Vives Vergara, Mauricio Fuentes-Alburquenque, José Firmino de Sousa Filho (), Aureliano Sancho Paiva, Andres Felipe Useche, Goro Yamada, Tania Alfaro, Amélia A. Lima Friche, Roberto F. S. Andrade, Maurício L. Barreto, Waleska Teixeira Caiaffa and Ana V. Diez-Roux
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Gervásio F. dos Santos: Center of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS, Fio Cruz—BA), Faculty of Economics, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40170-110, Brazil
Alejandra Vives Vergara: Department of Public Health, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago 8331150, Chile
Mauricio Fuentes-Alburquenque: School of Public Health, University of Chile, Santiago 8380000, Chile
José Firmino de Sousa Filho: Center of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS, Fio Cruz—BA), Faculty of Economics, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40170-110, Brazil
Aureliano Sancho Paiva: Center of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS, Fio Cruz—BA), Faculty of Economics, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40170-110, Brazil
Andres Felipe Useche: Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota 111711, Colombia
Goro Yamada: Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Tania Alfaro: School of Public Health, University of Chile, Santiago 8380000, Chile
Amélia A. Lima Friche: Observatory for Urban Health in Belo Horizonte (OSUBH), Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Department, School of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
Roberto F. S. Andrade: Center of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS, Fio Cruz—BA), Faculty of Economics, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40170-110, Brazil
Maurício L. Barreto: Center of Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (CIDACS, Fio Cruz—BA), Faculty of Economics, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador 40170-110, Brazil
Waleska Teixeira Caiaffa: Observatory for Urban Health in Belo Horizonte (OSUBH), Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Department, School of Medicine, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte 31270-901, Brazil
Ana V. Diez-Roux: Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 8, 1-16

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: socioeconomic typology of cities; Latin America; finite mixture models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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