Mobility indicators as a tool for the definition of territories with residential segregation and spatial inequality in the Cuenca canton.

The research projects "Identification and analysis of sustainability indicators for transport: the case of the rural area of the Canton Cuenca" and "Methodology for the calculation of mobility indicators of the Cuenca canton" unified and calculated a set of indicators that not only allowed to know the characteristics of rural mobility, but also to determine the degree of dependence between rural areas and the city. In this sense, a significant percentage of the population that had to pay high costs was identified, and invest large amounts of time to move to their daily. These evidences of territorial inequalities found determine that residential segregation is not a static phenomenon in which only the socioeconomic issue intervenes, but also occurs by a spatial disconnection between residential (rural) areas and those of work and education (city), consequently mobility plays a relevant but complex role as an articulator of everyday life in the territory. The present project aims to measure the residential segregation of the rural areas of the Canton Cuenca from the perspective of mobility, through the design of a standardized and semi-automatized methodology that can be replicated in other cities of the country and the region. Thus, depending on identified residential segregation patterns, action guidelines will be raised to improve the spatial integration of the population. This project, therefore, will constitute a key instrument of planning with national relevance, which will include equity and socio-spatial integration factors that are not currently conceived.

XVIII UNIVERSITY COMPETITION FOR RESEARCH PROJECTS